Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
Any primitive bacteria-like organism in the kingdom Archaea.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
considered ancient life forms that evolved separately from bacteria and blue-green algae
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: archaebacteria, archaeobacteria, archeobacteria
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: moneran, moneron
Narrower terms: methanogen, halophile, halophil, thermoacidophile
History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h2er-der.? Proto-Indo-European *h2ergh-der.? Ancient Greek ἄρχω (árkhō) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek ἀρχή (arkhḗ) Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Ancient Greek -ιος (-ios) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ρχαῖος (ărkhaîos) Ancient Greek βακτηρία (baktēría) ▲ Ancient Greek -ῐος (-ĭos)? Ancient Greek -ιον (-ion) Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion)bor. New Latin bactēriumbor. English bacterium English archaebacterium From Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ρχαῖος (ărkhaîos, “ancient”) + English bacterium.
