archaea

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ar·chae·on

(är′kē-ŏn′)

n. pl. ar·chae·a (-kē-ə)

Any of various prokaryotic microorganisms of the domain Archaea, being genetically distinct from bacteria and often living in habitats with extreme environmental conditions such as high temperature or salinity. Also called archaebacterium.

[New Latin Archaeon (back-formed singular of Archaea, domain name), from Greek arkhaion, neuter singular of arkhaios, ancient (in reference to the very ancient separation of the archaea and the eubacteria in evolutionary history); see archaic.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

archaea

(ɑːˈkiːə)

an order of prokaryotic microorganisms

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

References in periodicals archive ?

When they looked through a microscope at a type of archaeum known generally as Ignicoccus, they noticed some smaller, spherical objects attached to it.

Small wonder: microbial hitchhiker has few genes. (This week)

A reconstruction of the halophilic archaeum Halobacterium salinarum R-1 capable of growing on 15 different carbon/energy sources was developed by the group of Dieter Oesterhelt [13].

Genome-Scale Metabolic Modeling of Archaea Lends Insight into Diversity of Metabolic Function

nov., a novel hyperthermophilic archaeum that oxidizes [Fe.sup.2+] at neutral pH under anoxic conditions.