Acidothermophile

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A microorganism that grows best in very hot environments with a highly acidic pH, such as volcanic springs
2. An extremophile microbe that flourishes at high temperatures and low pH levels in harsh natural habitats
3. A heat-loving, acid-tolerant organism adapted to survive and reproduce in scalding, strongly acidic settings

Etymology: An acidothermophile is an organism that thrives in conditions that are both very hot and very acidic. The word is a modern scientific coinage built from two parts: "acido-", from the Latin "acidus" meaning sour or acid, and "thermophile", a term from Greek roots meaning "heat-loving." Put together, the name describes exactly what these microbes need to survive. The pattern is a familiar one in biology. Scientists have long combined Greek and Latin elements to name new organisms and habitats, so that a reader can often work out a creature's lifestyle from its name alone. "Thermophile" was itself formed the same way, and "acidophile" (acid-loving) follows the same model, so "acidothermophile" stacks the two descriptors together.

Synonyms: thermoacidophile