Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cosmonaut

/ˈkɑz.məˌnɔt/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.51 in modern English

Syllables: cos-mo-naut
IPA: /ˈkɑz.məˌnɔt/

13

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one.

Example Sentences

"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."
"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."

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian космона́вт (kosmonávt), from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “universe”) + ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”). By surface analysis, cosmo- + -naut.

Origin

Source language: Ancient Greek

Word Breakdown

Root: *ḱens-, κόσμος

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈkɑz.məˌnɔt/
British English: /ˈkɒz.məˌnɔːt/

Inflected Forms

cosmonauts (plural)

Derived Forms

cosmonautic cosmonautical cosmonautics cosmonette dogmonaut

Frequently Paired Words

aeronaut astronaut cosmos spationaut taikonaut vyomanaut

Synonyms

astronaut

Questions

How do you pronounce cosmonaut?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈkɑz.məˌnɔt/.
What does cosmonaut mean?: An astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one.
Where does cosmonaut come from?: It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce cosmonaut

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cosmonaut”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈkɑz.məˌnɔt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cosmonaut”.
Repeat and practice — Say “cosmonaut” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.