A see-off ceremony for three Chinese astronauts of the Shenzhou XII manned space mission is held at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China, June 17, 2021. [Photo by Su Dong/for chinadaily.com.cn]

Screenshot from ESA's twitter account via China Youth Daily

In their tweets to congratulate China on the launch of three 'taikonauts' on their Shenzhou XII mission to the Tianhe core space station module, both the European Space Agency and Roscosmos used the word "taikonauts".

欧洲航天局和俄罗斯国家航天集团公司在推特上都使用了“taikonauts（中国宇航员）”一词，祝贺中国成功发射神舟十二号载人飞船将三名中国宇航员送入中国空间站天和核心舱。

Comprising the Greek word "naut", which means sailor, and "taikon", which comes from taikong, the Chinese word for space, the word specifically refers to Chinese astronauts.

Taikonaut这个词，由希腊语单词“naut”（“水手”）和“taikon”（来自中文“太空”的拼音“taikong”）组成，专指“中国宇航员”。

Yet "taikonaut" is more than just a word. Its history mirrors that of China's space journey. The word was coined in 1998 by Chiew Lee Yih, a Chinese Malaysian, who used it first in newsgroups. However, back then few people picked up on it, as China was still relatively weak at that time and had not yet conducted any manned space missions.

然而，“taikonaut”不仅仅是一个词，它的诞生史反映了中国的航天历程。1998年，马来西亚华人赵里昱创造了这个词，并首先在新闻论坛中使用。然而，当时很少有人注意到它，因为当时中国国力较弱，还没有进行过载人航天任务。

It was not until 2003, when China sent Yang Liwei, the first taikonaut into space on board Shenzhou V, that the word became widely known. In his speech at Peking University on June 18, Yang told stories about that and shared how much is required of the taikonauts to prepare them for their missions. 

直到2003年，神舟五号载人飞船将首位中国宇航员杨利伟送入太空，这个词才广为人知。6月18日，杨利伟在北京大学的演讲中讲述了与之相关的故事，并分享了中国航天员为完成任务所付出的努力。

By far, taikonaut has been listed by Oxford and Longman dictionaries.

如今，牛津和朗文英语词典都已收录taikonaut这个词。

China has 34 trained taikonauts, each of whom has passed tests that are unimaginable to common people. According to reports, they are all selected from top pilots, engineers and scientists, and must pass rotational chair tests, psychological tests, survival tests and other tests in order to become a qualified taikonaut.

中国有34名训练有素的航天员，他们每个人都通过了常人难以想象的测试。据报道，他们都是从顶尖的飞行员、工程师和科学家中挑选出来的，必须通过转椅测试、心理测试、生存测试和其他测试，才能成为一名合格的taikonaut（中国宇航员）。

core space station module   空间站核心舱

manned space program  载人航天工程

interplanetary exploration  星际探测

Collected by Lv Yun, Wu Qin (intern)

Edited by Lv Yun

Sources: China Daily, CGTN

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