taikonaut

From Mandarin 太空 (tàikōng, “space”) +‎ -naut, modelled after astronaut, cosmonaut, spationaut, etc. The term was coined on 19 May 1998 by Chiew Lee Yih (趙裡昱 (trad.)/赵里昱 (simpl.); pinyin: Zhào Lǐyù) from Malaysia, who used it first in newsgroups. Almost simultaneously, Chen Lan coined it for use in the Western media.

• Hyphenation: tai‧ko‧naut

taikonaut (plural taikonauts)

1. A person who travels in space for the Chinese space program; a Chinese astronaut. [from 1998.]
   • 2003, Peter Schwartz, Inevitable Surprises, page x:

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

• astronaut
• cosmonaut
• spationaut

• “Taikonaut? Yuhangyuan?”, in Mail & Guardian‎, Johannesburg, South Africa, 12 October 2005, archived from the original on 29 October 2011.
• “taikonaut” in Paul McFedries, Word Spy, Logophilia Limited, 15 October 2003, retrieved 4 June 2017.