Glossary
Aerospace Engineer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential aerospace engineer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key aerospace engineer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in aerospace engineer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- ABET
- Engineering program accreditor.
- Aerodynamics
- Air flow over bodies.
- Airworthiness
- Fit to fly.
- CAD
- Computer-aided design.
- CFD
- Computational fluid dynamics.
- Drag
- Resistance force.
- FE exam
- Fundamentals of Engineering exam.
- FEA
- Finite element analysis.
- Lift
- Upward force.
- Orbit
- Path around a body.
- PE license
- Professional Engineer license.
- Propulsion
- Engine systems.
- Specification
- Detailed requirements.
- Thrust
- Forward force.
- Wind tunnel
- Tests airflow on models.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Aerospace Engineer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Aerospace Engineer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.