# astronaut



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently looking up the word "astronuat" in the dictionary and found:
    宇航员
yǔ háng yuán
          航天员
háng tiān yuán
          太空人
tài kōng rén

Are all these terms commonly used? Which one is the most common in conversation?
Thanks!


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## Jude Xu

宇航员and航天员 are more technical terms, while 太空人 sounds more informal and casual.
航天refers to the general space activity outside the atmosphere, while宇航has a broader sense that also implies further space operations beyond the solar system.
In daily communications, the first two (宇航员/航天员)makes no difference, as 99% of Chinese don't know their difference either.
太空人, though more informal, are not often seen or used.


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## yuechu

Thanks for your detailed explanations, Jude Xu!


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## SimonTsai

'太空人' is far commoner than the other two in my experience. '航天員' seems to be unique to the mainland.


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## Jude Xu

SimonTsai said:


> '太空人' is far commoner than the other two in my experience. '航天員' seems to be unique to the mainland.


Well, things gets tricky here. I suppose you're referring to the word usage in TW. In CN, it's another story. We seldom use 太空人 in our language context.


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## SimonTsai

Yes, I was talking about my personal experience. I am Taiwanese, born and growing up and still living here. I have never gone abroad. The more posts you read, the more you will find about the cross-strait difference.


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## Oswinw011

This is a very interesting question. When it comes to a foreign astronaut(cosmonaut), Chinese media would use 宇航员 more frequently; to Chinese astronaut, 航天员 shows up more than the former does. 太空人(reminding me of taikonaut, which has gotten thrown around so much lately) may be a word used in Taiwan or Hongkong, Maucau, as it hardly rings a bell for me as a mainlander.
三位国际知名宇航员寄语中国航天员


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## SimonTsai

Here we don't make such a distinction. I would definitely have confused '宇航員' with '航天員'.


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## T.D

宇航员 and 航天员 are completely interchangeable. Regarding Oswinw011's post, I think our press call Chinese astronauts 航天员 because our astronauts are all trained by the PLA Astronaut Corps （中国人民解放军*航天员*大队）. 

(For some reason 太空人 strikes me as a term used mainly by people in Taiwan)


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## Mew Suen

“太空人”只讓我想到很多年前喜之郎的廣告。在這邊確實很少在正式場合聽到“太空人”。


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## Vincent Tam

yuechu said:


> 大家好！
> 
> I was recently looking up the word "astronuat" in the dictionary and found:
> 宇航员
> yǔ háng yuán
> 航天员
> háng tiān yuán
> 太空人
> tài kōng rén
> 
> Are all these terms commonly used? Which one is the most common in conversation?
> Thanks!



Hi, Yuechu

If you ask me, I would say that  in daily conversation 太空人 is the most common in Cantonese,especially in HongKong.
On the other hand, in Mandarin(大陆), 宇航员 is the answer to you question.

I hope it can help you


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## yuechu

Oh! I didn't realize that there were so many regional differences. That's good to know!
Thank you all for your replies!


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> Oh! I didn't realize that there were so many regional differences.


The concept of astronaut didn't exist before 1960's. PRC, TW, HK were governed separately by then. You'd expect some difference in translation.


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## Skatinginbc

Oswinw011 said:


> When it comes to a foreign astronaut(cosmonaut), Chinese media would use 宇航员 more frequently; to Chinese astronaut, 航天员 shows up more than the former does.


航天員 sounds like a native word, whereas 宇航員 sounds like a translation.

*航天員* 6,060,000 google results > 天航員 1,780 google results
航空員 333,000 google results > 空航員 11,300 google results
航海員 190,000 google results > 海航員 2,050 google results
航宇員 23,500 google results < *宇航員* 24,100,000 google results
==> 宇航員 is an exception.

Likewise,
航天者 22,300 google results > 天航者 714 google results
航空者 8,830 google results > 空航者 625 google results
航海者 1,860,000 google results > 海航者 17,500 google results
行天者 145,000 google results < *天行者* 2,830,000 google results
《周易集解》行天者莫若龍，行地者莫若馬.
《慎子·逸文》行海者坐而至越, 有舟也; 行陸者立而至秦, 有車也.
古文: 行天 ==> 行於天
今文: 天行 ==> 在天上行走
"天行" 是今文, "者" 是古語, "天行者" 不古不今, 八成是譯文.

天行者 = English "_Skywalker_" (= "_sky_" 天 + "_walker_" 行者).
宇航員 = Russian "_kosmonavt_" (= Greek "_kosmos_" 宇 + "_nautes_" 船員)

"航天員" 是正宗土產, 遺憾的是洋腔 "宇航員" (24,100,000 google results) 反倒是最常見的.


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## T.D

Skatinginbc said:


> "航天員" 是正宗土產, 遺憾的是洋腔 "宇航員" (24,100,000 google results) 反倒是最常見的.


其实我更喜欢”宇航员“。“天”和“宇”在我的认知里是不一样的。而astronaut显然是在“宇”而不是在“天”。


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## ovaltine888

太空人 is originated from *cosmonaut *created by the Soviet Union, which was used to distinguish from the astronaut used by the US during the cold war.


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## SimonTsai

'太空' is a native word and originally referred to the enormous space far above where we can reach — where we find the sun at noon and the moon and stars at night.


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## 禅性智

Hi！That's really wired if you say "太空人”, compared with "宇航员” and "航天员” which are the same. "太空人” is rarely said in daily day to day context, and maybe the three makes sense.


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