Sekundit

Sekundit is a fictional unit of time introduced in the 2013 science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. It represents a time interval of one second in the context of the novel’s advanced alien civilization, the Trisolarans, who originate from a planet orbiting three suns. The term is derived from the Chinese word for "second" (秒, miǎo), combined with the suffix -it, a common practice in science fiction to denote a specialized unit of measurement.

In the novel, the Trisolarans use sekundit as a standard unit to measure time, particularly in their advanced technological and military applications. The concept highlights the vast temporal and spatial scales involved in their civilization, which has evolved over billions of years. The term also serves as a narrative device to emphasize the alien perspective and the novel’s themes of cosmic scale and human insignificance in the universe.

While sekundit is not a real unit of time, its inclusion in the story reflects Liu Cixin’s exploration of speculative science and the challenges of communication across vastly different civilizations. The term has gained attention among fans of the novel and its sequels, The Dark Forest and Death’s End, where it continues to appear in discussions of time, physics, and interstellar conflict. Its usage underscores the novel’s blend of hard science fiction and philosophical inquiry into humanity’s place in the cosmos.