astronaut

space traveler

Roots

astro / aster: star
naut: sailor or voyager

Other words with the astro / aster root

astrology: belief system mapping celestial positions to human affairs
astronomy: study of celestial objects and space
disaster: catastrophic event

Other words with the naut root

aeronaut: air traveler or balloonist
argonaut: adventurer or member of Jason's mythical crew
cosmonaut: space traveler especially in the Russian tradition
nautical: relating to sailors ships or sea travel
nautilus: a sea mollusk with a spiral shell

Astro gives stars and naut gives voyager. Astronaut is the hook: a star-voyager.

As a child, she heard astronaut as star-sailor, and the image never left.

Astronaut makes naut easy to picture: a person traveling through space like a voyager on a different sea. From there, naut can mean traveler, sailor, or voyager depending on the word.