Etymology

negentropy

neg·en·tro·py
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Today it means: The difference between the entropy of a system and the maximum possible entropy of the same system. Full definition →

First used 1950s
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The story

From nega- + entropy. A blend of negative + entropy, coined by the French physicist Léon Brillouin (1889–1969). The term negative entropy was introduced by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) in his book What is Life? (1944, based on lectures delivered in February 1943).

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1950s The difference between the entropy of a system and the maximum possible entropy of the same system.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.