Archaean
Multiple Entries:Archaean archaea
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Archaean /ɑːˈkiːən/ (US Archean)
▶adjective Geology relating to or denoting the earlier part of the Precambrian aeon (before about 2,500 million years ago), in which there was no life on the earth.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
archaea /ɑːˈkiːə/
▶plural noun Biology microorganisms which are similar to bacteria in size and simplicity of structure but constitute an ancient group intermediate between the bacteria and eukaryotes.
– derivatives
archaean adjective & noun.
archaean adjective & noun.
– origin mod. L., from Gk arkhaios ‘primitive’.
'Archaean' also found in these Oxford entries:
