What does spacewoman mean?
Spacewoman is a noun denoting a woman who travels in space, most often a female astronaut. The word was formed by combining space with woman and reflects a traditional pattern in which certain occupational titles explicitly identify gender: thus, spacewoman is paired with spaceman, just as actress is paired with actor. Although accurate, spacewoman is much less common than the neutral term astronaut and may sound old-fashioned in contemporary usage. It is nevertheless useful in historical writing and in contexts where an author wishes to identify or emphasize the subject’s sex. In general discussion, astronaut is normally preferred because it applies equally to people of every gender. Spacewoman may also serve more broadly for a woman involved in space travel, although its established use principally concerns astronauts and other women who have travelled aboard spacecraft.
nounA woman who travels in space, especially one who is an astronaut.
- A woman who travels in space, especially a female astronaut.
"The spacewoman spent several days conducting experiments aboard the orbital station."
"As a spacewoman, she had experienced the peculiar sensation of looking down on Earth from orbit."
"The exhibition recounts the achievements of the spacewoman whose research helped shape modern medicine."
The irregular plural changes woman to women.
"The histories of several early spacewomen were overlooked for decades."
Unlike the familiar word astronaut, the term spacewoman is explicitly gendered—and consequently much less common.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does spacewoman come from?
Spacewoman is a compound formed in English from space and woman. Space entered English from Old French espace, ultimately derived from Latin spatium, while astronaut was formed in the 20th century from Greek astron and autos. The gendered compound follows the older English convention of marking a person’s sex directly in occupational nouns such as spaceman.
Related word forms
How spacewoman is actually used
Spacewoman is relatively uncommon, and many contemporary speakers use the gender-neutral term astronaut for women as well.
Easily confused with spacewoman
An astronaut is any person trained to travel in space, while a spacewoman specifically denotes a female astronaut.
Spaceman traditionally denotes a male astronaut, whereas spacewoman denotes a female astronaut; both terms are less common than the gender-neutral astronaut.