'Cosmonaut' is Greek for 'universe-sailor' — the Soviet answer to the American 'star-sailor.'
A Russian or Soviet space traveler; an astronaut in the Russian space program.
From Russian 'космонавт' (kosmonavt), coined from Greek 'kosmos' (universe, order, ornament) + 'nautēs' (sailor), from 'naus' (ship), from PIE *nau- (boat). The word was created as the Soviet counterpart to the American 'astronaut' (star-sailor). Where 'astronaut' sails among the stars, a 'cosmonaut' sails the cosmos — the
A 'cosmonaut' sails the cosmos (the ordered universe), while an 'astronaut' sails among the stars. But the most surprising relative is 'cosmetic' — from the same Greek 'kosmos,' which meant 'ornament, adornment' before it meant 'universe.' The Greeks believed the universe was beautiful because it was ordered, and ornamentation was beautiful because it
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