Word.ws English Dictionary

archaean

/ɑːˈkiːən/US/ɑɹˈkiːən/

archaean noun: any organism of the domain Archaea.

Noun

archaean (plural archaeans)

  1. Any organism of the domain Archaea.

Adjective capitalized: Archaean

Archaean (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to Arche, the Muse of beginnings in Greek mythology.
  2. Of, or relating to the geologic eon from about 4,031 to 2,500 million years ago; comprises the Eoarchean, Paleoarchean, Mesoarchean and Neoarchean eras; marked by an atmosphere with little oxygen, the formation of the first continents and oceans and the emergence of simple life.
    • The oldest vestiges of continental crust, which date from the Archaean aeon about 4 billion years ago, are in Acasta in north-west Canada.2006 March 25, NewScientist, page 12/1
  3. ("Archean" only) Of or relating to the irregular Jovian moon named for Arche.

Proper noun capitalized: Archaean

Archaean

  1. The eon from 2,500 Ma to 4,000 Ma.

Forms of archaean

Noun
pluralarchaeans
Adjective
alternative formArchean
alternative form (archaic)Archæan

Origin of archaean

Archaea + -n

From Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “ancient”) (likely via Latin archaeus) + -an.

Words that rhyme with archaean

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about archaean

What does archaean mean?
Archaean means any organism of the domain Archaea.
What part of speech is archaean?
Archaean can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce archaean?
Archaean is pronounced /ɑːˈkiːən/ (UK).
What is the plural of archaean?
The plural of archaean is archaeans.

Words near archaean in the dictionary

  1. archabbots
  2. archae-
  3. archaea
  4. archaeacidal
  5. archaeal
  6. archaean
  7. archaeans
  8. archaeastronomy
  9. archaebacteria
  10. archaebacterial
  11. archaebacterium

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: archaean (page history and authors); Archaean (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Archaean.wav.

Cite this entry: “archaean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/archaean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.