English

Noun

aviatrix ‎(plural aviatrices)

1. (dated) A female aviator.
   • 1969, William Dana Orcutt, Celebrities Off Parade: Pen-and-ink Portrait Sketches, ISBN 0836914244, page 111:

     “... — Did you know that she was an aviatrix?” he interjected.

   • 1987, Pat Browne, Heroines of Popular Culture, ISBN 0879724099, page 54:

     The Women Flyers: From Aviatrix to Astronaut

   • 2001, Roger E. Bilstein, Flight in America: From the Wrights to the Astronauts, ISBN 08011866855, page 22:

     Hariet Quimby, a writer for Leslie's Weekly, in 1911 became the first American aviatrix and won international accalim in 1912 as the first woman to pilot a plan across the English Channel.

   • 2002, Deena Mandrell, Deadbeat Dads: Subjectivity and Social Construction, ISBN 0802083188, page 307:

     In 1929 she turned an ide that she ‘stole’ from her son into a screenplay, Wings in the Dark, featuring a protagonist based on Ameria Earhart, the famous aviatrix with whom Shipman was acquainted...

Usage notes

• In common usage, the etymologically-consistent plural form aviatrices is over three times more common than the Anglicised plural form aviatrixes.^[1]

Synonyms

• aviatress, aviatrice
• aviator (male or female)
• flier, flyer (male or female)
• pilot (male or female)

References

1. ↑ Google Book Search: aviatrices vs. aviatrixes