Archaean.
/ɑːˈkiːə/, U.S. /ɑrˈkiə/, /ɑrˈkeɪə/ Biology.
A taxon comprising the archaebacteria; (also archaea) organisms of this taxon (collectively or individually), archaebacteria. Cf. archaeon n.The term Archaea was proposed in the context of a classification which emphasized the distinction between archaebacteria and ‘true’ bacteria. Some classifications have subsequently treated Archaea as a subdivision of Bacteria.
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1990 C. R. Woese et al. in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87 4576 We propose that a formal system of organisms be established in which above the level of kingdom there exists a new taxon called a ‘domain’. Life on this planet would then be seen as comprising three domains, the Bacteria, the Archaea, and the Eucarya, each containing two or more kingdoms.
1994 New Scientist 11 June 19/1 As a kingdom, the archaea are known for the inhospitable habitats they pick to live in—hot springs, deep ocean vents, and salt flats.
1997 N.Y. Times 11 Apr. a12/5 These underwater volcanoes, or black smokers, are home to a strange array of creatures found nowhere else, as well as to many species of archaea.
1998 L. Margulis & K. V. Schwartz Five Kingdoms (ed. 3) i. 44 Bacteria assort into two fundamentally different, and therefore ancient, groups: the Archaebacteria (Archaea) and the Eubacteria.
2008 Nature 14 Feb. p. xi/2 The Archaea were once thought of as the more primitive of the two prokaryotic lineages.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1990