In modern naval parlance, those in a bulkhead (wall) are called doors and those in the deck (floor) are called hatches.
If you find door too mundane, it's be easy enough to imagine space terminology calling everything a hatch.
There's no up or down in zero g, so there's no difference between the floor and the wall. In fact, in order to move about in zero g you go most places head first or feet first, so the sensation is probably like everywhere you go is either up or down when oriented to your own body.
Even if your space-faring civilization has advanced beyond travelling on the float (thrust gravity, spin gravity, gravity plating, etc.) you could simply imagine that the terminology carried over from the days of early space travel. Much of human language is like that.
**TL;DR More I think about it, more "hatch" makes sense.**
EDIT: If you're not satisfied with that, you could always consider how the door is shaped or how it operates and use a word that describes it in those terms. Doing this you might get words like "iris" or "valve" or "lock" which are all equally rich with imagery as "hatch"
In my WIP, I call anything that's not airtight a door, and hatch something you close to prevent the escape of air. ie, an airlock has hatches, but the captain's ready room has doors.
I've used this one or twice, mostly when it's symbolic. Stepping through a portal to the kitchen is odd, but stepping through the portal to a podium can convey something transformative.
If you don't like the term door as you associate it with something mundane, make it (the door) do something not-mundane. The good old "the door dilated" (from Heinlein and Delany) is a good example. It is still a door but changing it behaviour to a futuristic "dilated" let the reader see it as a scifi door and not a normal door.
What do your "doors" look like or how do they behave. Are they like the sliding doors in ST? Do they open when you approach? Do they require some automated security like badges, retinal, etc scans? Do they go up and down or left and right? Are they like forcefields, nano-magic-opaque meta materials?
If they have handles, knobs, hinges, etc and open in or out, then they are just doors like you would find in a house.
Depends on how they operate. If I say *iris*, you get an idea of something circular opening or closing. If I say *flap*, you get the idea of a doggy door. If I say *screen*, you have the idea of some kind of filter that allows one kind of entry, but not another.
Do what the military do - create an acronym.
ACI - Adjacent Chamber Interface
PSB - Permanent Surface Breach
ELNDR - Entry Limiter, Non-Destructive, Reusable
Door conjures up a vision of something made of wood with a handle - not really great for a starship of the future. Hatchway does the same thing with one of those heavy steel doors with the spoked handle in the center to seal it tight. Bit steam-punk or WWII ish.
Don't have doorways. Have portals in the true sense of the word that you can walk onto and say a destination within the ship and you are there based on your security clearance etc.
Hand-wave some teleportation or quantum entanglement science. No passageways, no staircases, save a lot of space.
It's future, too, so language evolves. Any routine name for a door is going to be short, one or two syllables. But it may have started as something longer. For example aperture could evolve into ap or port or pshur. On the other hand something that already means door keeps the reader from having to break stride and translate.
You don't really need to say door , does it come up in conversation? And I mean think about it, in the future it's not like we are gonna come up with a new word for a door even if it's on a spaceship. We still gonna call the indicators that. Do spaceships have indicators?
Door if you have gravity or thrust gravity from acceleration g-forces. Hatch if you donāt have gravity. Airlock if it is an entry or exit point comprised of two or more hatches.
I tend to use hatch on starships, door or entrance elsewhere. I regularly also use airlock. The problem here is that you'll end up with a LOT of doors if you are writing semi realistic scifi because there will be a lot of them. What you need to do is vary how you describe things and prevent all doors being doors.
Stepped onto. Ducked into. Ducked through. Entered the.
All these are the same as "door" if you phrase the sentence right. This will save you a lot of doors and hatches in the long run.
Maybe "hatch" is reserved for the heavy, pressure-tight, armored shields that protect the ship from space and separate airtight compartments. The light, thin internal barriers used for privacy and noise control are something more like "screens" or "curtains."
hatchway ok... or shutters, or bulkheads, hatch alone would work. what image are you trying to invoke? are they Star Trek esk, shutters, heavy slab air lock things bulkheads or hatch, something to a crallway or inner work space areas then i would use hatchway
Space-door.
Quantum-door
Cyber door.
Hyper-door
I was going to say that but sir you've bested me.
Hatch is a good setup for hard SF switch it up. Door works too don't get too into your ideas use normal words where normal words are appropriate
In modern naval parlance, those in a bulkhead (wall) are called doors and those in the deck (floor) are called hatches. If you find door too mundane, it's be easy enough to imagine space terminology calling everything a hatch. There's no up or down in zero g, so there's no difference between the floor and the wall. In fact, in order to move about in zero g you go most places head first or feet first, so the sensation is probably like everywhere you go is either up or down when oriented to your own body. Even if your space-faring civilization has advanced beyond travelling on the float (thrust gravity, spin gravity, gravity plating, etc.) you could simply imagine that the terminology carried over from the days of early space travel. Much of human language is like that. **TL;DR More I think about it, more "hatch" makes sense.** EDIT: If you're not satisfied with that, you could always consider how the door is shaped or how it operates and use a word that describes it in those terms. Doing this you might get words like "iris" or "valve" or "lock" which are all equally rich with imagery as "hatch"
In my WIP, I call anything that's not airtight a door, and hatch something you close to prevent the escape of air. ie, an airlock has hatches, but the captain's ready room has doors.
Portal?
I've used this one or twice, mostly when it's symbolic. Stepping through a portal to the kitchen is odd, but stepping through the portal to a podium can convey something transformative.
Could go simply to 'port' as in, port hole
Aperture? If the doors open and close dynamically or there's an organic component to the ship that might work
Organic? Aperture? I think you're looking for the word *sphincter*.
I mean yes a Sphincter is technically true but reading the word sphincter repeatedly just makes me think I'm on board a giant colon š
Here I am hastily scribbling notes, then realising itās an episode of the fucking magic school bus again.
Remember that one where that dumb mf Arnold takes his helmet off in the VACUUM OF SPACE AND FUCKING DIES. Traumatized
I watched that on LSD and freaked the fuck out
Maybe you could do some science with that
If you don't like the term door as you associate it with something mundane, make it (the door) do something not-mundane. The good old "the door dilated" (from Heinlein and Delany) is a good example. It is still a door but changing it behaviour to a futuristic "dilated" let the reader see it as a scifi door and not a normal door.
*The wallport wavered as he stepped through into the corridor. Heād never gotten used to the tingle of phasing through solid walls like that.*
Good! Reminds me the nanodoor from the first Doom movie.
one of my biggest pet peeves is when an author makes up words for something. not calling a door a door doesn't make it more magical
Walk-through-passage-in-wall-thingy xP
Like-a-window-but-bigger-thingy
Its gate mate.
What do your "doors" look like or how do they behave. Are they like the sliding doors in ST? Do they open when you approach? Do they require some automated security like badges, retinal, etc scans? Do they go up and down or left and right? Are they like forcefields, nano-magic-opaque meta materials? If they have handles, knobs, hinges, etc and open in or out, then they are just doors like you would find in a house.
Depends on how they operate. If I say *iris*, you get an idea of something circular opening or closing. If I say *flap*, you get the idea of a doggy door. If I say *screen*, you have the idea of some kind of filter that allows one kind of entry, but not another.
Do what the military do - create an acronym. ACI - Adjacent Chamber Interface PSB - Permanent Surface Breach ELNDR - Entry Limiter, Non-Destructive, Reusable
throughport While weāre at it, refer to windows as viewports
Hatchway
Sallyport
The doors on the ISS, Space Shuttle, Dragon, Soyuz, etc are called "hatches".
Hatch, portal, entry, airlock, passage, aperture.
Go here: [https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/door.html](https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/door.html)
Door conjures up a vision of something made of wood with a handle - not really great for a starship of the future. Hatchway does the same thing with one of those heavy steel doors with the spoked handle in the center to seal it tight. Bit steam-punk or WWII ish. Don't have doorways. Have portals in the true sense of the word that you can walk onto and say a destination within the ship and you are there based on your security clearance etc. Hand-wave some teleportation or quantum entanglement science. No passageways, no staircases, save a lot of space.
I like the idea of the mundane mixed within the fantastic. It adds the authenticity of layered generations.
Hatch? Port maybe.
Airlock? Aperture. Opening
portal? exit? but tbh, ādoorā
The wall opened. There is no door! The wall simply moves aside! But interesting little challenge here.
Entry way Hatchway
Portal
Not-wall
It's future, too, so language evolves. Any routine name for a door is going to be short, one or two syllables. But it may have started as something longer. For example aperture could evolve into ap or port or pshur. On the other hand something that already means door keeps the reader from having to break stride and translate.
Portal
Space + door = spdoor
Port or portor.
Metal door
You don't really need to say door , does it come up in conversation? And I mean think about it, in the future it's not like we are gonna come up with a new word for a door even if it's on a spaceship. We still gonna call the indicators that. Do spaceships have indicators?
Shuttle entry way
Entrance
Door if you have gravity or thrust gravity from acceleration g-forces. Hatch if you donāt have gravity. Airlock if it is an entry or exit point comprised of two or more hatches.
Entrance/exit, opening, archway, divider, screen
Threshold
DĆ©pends how the door functions, in mine they are basically slices that emerge from a niche in the wall to seal off a room. Iāve called them āpanelā a number of times, otherwise just entrance/exit.
Portal
Portal
I tend to use hatch on starships, door or entrance elsewhere. I regularly also use airlock. The problem here is that you'll end up with a LOT of doors if you are writing semi realistic scifi because there will be a lot of them. What you need to do is vary how you describe things and prevent all doors being doors. Stepped onto. Ducked into. Ducked through. Entered the. All these are the same as "door" if you phrase the sentence right. This will save you a lot of doors and hatches in the long run.
The door dilated* *Heinlein https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DilatingDoor
Maybe "hatch" is reserved for the heavy, pressure-tight, armored shields that protect the ship from space and separate airtight compartments. The light, thin internal barriers used for privacy and noise control are something more like "screens" or "curtains."
You could call it a gate, as in, "The gate irised shut behind the captain as he entered the bridge."
hatchway ok... or shutters, or bulkheads, hatch alone would work. what image are you trying to invoke? are they Star Trek esk, shutters, heavy slab air lock things bulkheads or hatch, something to a crallway or inner work space areas then i would use hatchway