CRYONAUT noun (krahy-uh-nawt)

noun
1. a person whose dead body has been preserved by the technique of cryonics.


Quotes

... cryonics ... has now been around for 60 years, since the death of retired psychology professor James H. Bedford. Alcor, the company that still has his body in a frozen chamber, calls him the first “cryonaut.”
--*Kat Eschner,*"The First Cryonic Preservation Took Place Fifty Years Ago Today," Smithsonian, January 12, 2017


For the moment, preservation is a pricey proposition, largely because each "cryonaut" must set aside enough capital to pay for maintenance indefinitely out of interest alone.
--*Michael Cieply,*“They Freeze Death if Not Taxes,” Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1990



Origin

The rare noun cryonaut derives clearly and simply from the Greek nouns krýos “icy cold” and naútēs “sailor.” Krýos comes from the Proto-Indo-European root kreus-, krus- “to freeze, form a crust,” from which Greek also derives krýstallos “ice” (English crystal). Krus- is also the source of Latin crusta “a hard covering, scab, crust.” Naútēs is a derivative of the noun naûs “ship,” from the same Proto-Indo-European source as Latin nāvis “ship,” nauta “sailor,” and nāvigāre “travel by ship.” Cryonaut entered English in the 20th century.