taikonaut

See also Taikonaut

English

Etymology

The term was coined on 19 May 1998 by Chiew Lee Yih (Mandarin: 趙裡昱 (trad.) / 赵里昱 (simpl.) Zhào Lǐyù) from Malaysia, who used it first in newsgroups. Almost simultaneously, Chen Lan coined it for use in the Western media based on Mandarin (太空 tàikōng), space. (Source: Mail & Guardian) This follows the pattern established by the terms astronaut and cosmonaut (which share the -naut suffix) for having different terms for space workers denoting country of origin.

Noun

taikonaut (plural taikonauts)

1. A person who travels in space for the Chinese space program; a Chinese astronaut.
   • 2003, Peter Schwartz, Inevitable Surprises, p x.

     The past decade has seen remarkable events and changes: ... The Columbia disaster and a Chinese taikonaut in orbit

External links

"Taikonaut" at Word Spy: http://www.wordspy.com/words/taikonaut.asp

Synonyms

• hangtianyuan
• yuhangyuan (宇航员)

Related terms

• astronaut
• cosmonaut

Translations

Chinese astronaut

• Catalan: taikonauta (ca) m and f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 太空人 (cmn) (tàikōng rén)

  Min Nan: 太空人 (nan) (thài-khong-jîn)

• Finnish: taikonautti (fi)
• French: taïkonaute (fr) m and f
• German: Taikonaut (de) m
• Hungarian: tajkonauta (hu)

• Japanese: タイコノート (ja) (taikonōto)
• Korean: 타이코놋 (ko) (taikonot)
• Navajo: wótáahgoo ałnaaʼáłtʼahiʼ‎
• Polish: tajkonauta (pl) m and f
• Russian: тайконавт (ru) (tajkonávt) m 
• Spanish: taikonauta (es) m and f
• Turkish: taykonot (tr)