Meanings
nouncosmonaut (plural cosmonauts)
plural cosmonauts
- An astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one.
Khrushchev’s answer came 60 years ago, on April 12, 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth aboard a spacecraft called Vostok 1.
2021 April 12, Gregory McNamee, “This Soviet cosmonaut was the first human in orbit — fueling the space race”, in CNN1 more example
Longtime NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who has ventured to space four times, returned to Earth on Saturday night from the International Space Station. Pettit, who turned 70 on Sunday, landed at 9:20 p.m. ET in a Soyuz spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, after a seven-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.
2025 April 19, Ashley Strickland, “An astronaut’s awe-inspiring views from life in space”, in CNN
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekκόσμος“universe”
- Russianкосмона́вт
- Englishcosmonaut
Borrowed from Russian космона́вт (kosmonávt), from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “universe”) + ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”). By surface analysis, cosmo- + -naut.
More words from Russian, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic رَجُل فَضَاء, رَائِد فَضَاء
- رَجُل فَضَاء (rajul faḍāʔ)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- رَائِد فَضَاء (rāʔid faḍāʔ)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- مَلَّاح فَضَائِيّ (mallāḥ faḍāʔiyy)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Bulgarian космона́вт
- космона́вт (kosmonávt)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Catalan cosmonauta
- cosmonautaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Chinese Mandarin 太空人, 宇航員 /宇航员
- 太空人 (tàikōngrén)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- 宇航員 /宇航员 (yǔhángyuán)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- 航天員 /航天员 (hángtiānyuán)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- 宇宙飛行員 /宇宙飞行员 (yǔzhòu fēixíngyuán)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Czech kosmonaut
- kosmonautan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Dutch kosmonaut, kosmonaute
- kosmonautan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- kosmonautean astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Esperanto kosmonaŭto
- kosmonaŭtoan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Estonian kosmonaut
- kosmonautan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Finnish kosmonautti
- kosmonauttian astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
French cosmonaute
- cosmonautean astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
German Kosmonaut
- Kosmonautan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Greek κοσμοναύτης
- κοσμοναύτης (kosmonáftis)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Hebrew קוסמונאוט, קוסמונאוטית
- קוסמונאוט (kosmonaut)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- קוסמונאוטית (kosmonaut'it)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Hindi अंतरिक्ष यात्री
- अंतरिक्ष यात्री (antrikṣ yātrī)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Hungarian kozmonauta
- kozmonautaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Italian cosmonauta
- cosmonautaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Japanese 宇宙飛行士, コスモノート
- 宇宙飛行士 (uchū hikōshi)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- コスモノート (kosumonōto)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Korean 우주비행사
- 우주비행사 (ujubihaengsa)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Lithuanian kosmonautas, kosmonautė
- kosmonautasan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- kosmonautėan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Malay kosmonaut
- kosmonautan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Persian فضانورد
- فضانورد (fazânavard)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Polish astronauta, astronautka
- astronautaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- astronautkaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- kosmonautaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- kosmonautkaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Portuguese cosmonauta
- cosmonautaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Romanian cosmonaut, cosmonaută
- cosmonautan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- cosmonautăan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Russian космона́вт
- космона́вт (kosmonávt)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Spanish cosmonauta
- cosmonautaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Swedish kosmonaut
- kosmonautan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Tagalog malimayaw
- malimayawan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Thai นักบินอวกาศ
- นักบินอวกาศ (nák-bin-à-wá-gàat)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Turkish kozmonot, astronot
- kozmonotan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- astronotan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- uçurcuan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- fezagiran astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Ukrainian космона́вт
- космона́вт (kosmonávt)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Vietnamese nhà du hành vũ trụ, phi hành gia
- nhà du hành vũ trụan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
- phi hành giaan astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Yiddish קאָסמאָנויט
- קאָסמאָנויט (kosmonoyt)an astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one — see also astronaut
Cite this entry
APA
cosmonaut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cosmonaut
MLA
“cosmonaut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cosmonaut. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cosmonaut,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cosmonaut.
Source: cosmonaut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.