aeronautics

Definitions

Greek aēr (air) + nautēs (sailor) + -ics (field) = 'the study of sailing through air.' An aeronaut originally meant a balloonist — someone 'sailing' the sky — long before powered flight; the -naut treats air like a sea.

Why It Means This

The -naut piece is a buried sailing metaphor that survived into the space age. Greek nautēs (sailor) gave aeronaut (air-sailor), then astronaut (star-sailor) and cosmonaut (universe-sailor). Every -naut is a navigator of a new 'sea,' and aeronautics was the first: the science of crossing the ocean of air.

Common Collocations

• 1.aeronautics and astronautics航空航天
• 2.aeronautics engineer航空工程师

Example Sentences

• 1.

  He studied aeronautics before joining the aircraft manufacturer.

• 2.

  Advances in aeronautics made transcontinental flights routine.

• 3.

  The university is famous for its aeronautics program.