astronaut

A2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈæstɹəˌnɔt/ UK /ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/ See IPA manual

Freq #7132

Meanings

1

noun
A person who is trained to travel and work in space.

The astronaut floated slowly outside the space station.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who is trained to... cosmonautspaceman

Word family

Forms astronauts

Derived forms actornautafronautastronautrixastronautteastronettechimponautfapstronautnastronautpara-astronauttouronaut

Related forms aeronautastronauticastronauticalastronauticscosmonauttaikonautvyomanaut

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

ancient astronaut
an imagined visitor from space said to have reached Earth in ancient times

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Astronaut was formed in the 1920s from Greek astron, “star,” and nautēs, “sailor,” so it literally means “star sailor.” It was modelled on the older word aeronaut.

Etymology

From astro- + -naut. Coined from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”).

ἄστρον Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Astronomy & Space

External links

# astronaut

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈæstɹəˌnɔt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/
**Frequency rank:** 7132

## Meanings
1. A person who is trained to travel and work in space.

## Examples
- The astronaut floated slowly outside the space station.

## Synonyms
- cosmonaut

## Derived Forms
- actornaut
- afronaut
- astronautrix
- astronautte
- astronette
- chimponaut
- fapstronaut
- nastronaut
- para-astronaut
- touronaut

## Related Forms
- aeronaut
- astronautic
- astronautical
- astronautics
- cosmonaut
- taikonaut
- vyomanaut

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ἄστρον

## Etymology
From astro- + -naut. Coined from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”).

## AI Etymology
Astronaut is from astro- plus -naut. Coined from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”). The formation is semantically transparent: the parts remain visible, while the compound or affix fixes the grammatical role and narrows the modern meaning. In use as a noun, astronaut denotes a person who is trained to travel and work in space. The same word family continues in derived forms such as actornaut, afronaut, astronautrix, and astronautte and related entries such as aeronaut, astronautic, astronautical, and astronautics.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Astronomy & Space

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