The word 宇航员 is formed by combining three meaningful components: 宇 (yǔ, meaning "cosmos" or "universe"), 航 (háng, meaning "to navigate" or "to sail"), and 员 (yuán, meaning "personnel" or "member"). The first two characters, 宇航, combine to form the concept of "navigating the cosmos" or "spaceflight". The final character, 员, is then appended to specify a person engaged in that activity. Thus, the compound logically constructs the meaning "cosmos-navigation-person", which directly and transparently signifies an astronaut or cosmonaut.