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• Archaean
  Archaean

  adjective

  of or relating to the highly metamorphosed rocks formed in the early Precambrian era
• archaean
  archaean

  noun

  any member of the Archaea , a domain of prokaryotic microorganisms, distinguished from bacteria on molecular phylogenetic grounds and often found in hostile environments, such as volcanic vents and hot springs

Archaean

¹ British  

/ ɑːˈkiːən /

adjective

1. of or relating to the highly metamorphosed rocks formed in the early Precambrian era

2. the earlier of two divisions of the Precambrian era, during which the earliest forms of life are assumed to have appeared

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archaean ² British  

/ ɑːˈkɪən /

noun

1. any member of the Archaea , a domain of prokaryotic microorganisms, distinguished from bacteria on molecular phylogenetic grounds and often found in hostile environments, such as volcanic vents and hot springs

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Example Sentences

Archaean cell walls do not have peptidoglycan, but they may have pseudopeptidoglycan, polysaccharides, glycoproteins, or protein-based cell walls.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

There is geological evidence that Earth’s oceans became salty early during the Archaean, and that at times in the past, they have been at least half again as salty as they are now.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

This "palaeobarometry" approach, revealed at the , will help constrain the models that try to simulate conditions in Archaean times.

From BBC • Dec. 4, 2012

The confounding factor would be if raindrops were somehow much bigger in Archaean times.

From BBC • Dec. 4, 2012

The crushed and folded and dislocated strata are laid open to the weather as the horizontal strata, and as the upheaved masses of Archaean rock are not.

From Time and Change by Burroughs, John