taikonaut

Etymology

Formed from Mandarin 太空 (tàikōng, "space") plus -naut, modelled on astronaut, cosmonaut, spationaut and so on. The word was coined on 19 May 1998 by Chiew Lee Yih (趙里昱 (Zhào Lǐyù)) from Malaysia, who first used it in newsgroups, and almost simultaneously Chen Lan coined it for use in the Western media.