Archaean

1 of 2

variant spelling of archean

archaean

2 of 2

noun

ar·​chae·​an är-ˈkē-ən 

plural archaeans

: any of the microorganisms comprising the archaea

In earlier work on the mine ecosystem, these archaeans had gone undetected.

—Henry Nicholls

archaean adjective

archaean thermophiles

archaean species

Examples of Archaean in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Pyrodictium is an archaean that lives in scalding-hot waters off Sicily, near the island of Vulcano, and that uses the reaction between sulphur and hydrogen for energy. —Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books, 17 Nov. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1996, in the meaning defined above