ARCHAEA Definition & Meaning

archaea

[ ahr-kee-uh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

plural noun

Microbiology.

singular archaeon

a group of microorganisms, including the methanogens and certain halophiles and thermoacidophiles, that have RNA sequences, coenzymes, and a cell wall composition that are different from all other organisms: considered to be an ancient form of life that evolved separately from bacteria and algae and classified as constituting the domain Archaea.

Archaea

[ ahr-kee-uh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

(in the three-domain system of classification) the taxonomic domain comprising the archaea.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of archaea¹

First recorded in 1985–90; from New Latin, from Greek ��î��, neuter plural of ��î�ǲ� “a�Գ��Գ�”; archaeo- ( def )

Origin of archaea²

First recorded in 1990–95; from New Latin; archaea ( def )

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Their study, published in Nature Communications, shows that these archaea are very 'picky eaters', which might drive their hosts to change the menu.

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Archaea are a distinct group of microbes, similar to bacteria*.

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So far, it was thought that these parasitic archaea just eat any kind of lipids from their host to construct their membrane.

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"Not only does it shed a first light on the interactions between different archaea; it gives a totally new insight in the fundamentals of microbial ecology," Hamm says.

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Archaea are single celled organisms that were long believed to be a specific group of bacteria.

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