Halotolerance

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The capacity of an organism to live and thrive in environments with high concentrations of salt
2. The ability of a living thing to tolerate and survive exposure to elevated levels of salinity
3. The capacity to endure and function in habitats characterized by high salt content

Etymology: Halotolerance is a plain technical compound: "halo-", from Greek "hals" meaning "salt" (as in "halogen" and "halite"), joined to "tolerance", the English noun from Latin "tolerantia" and the verb "tolerare", meaning "to endure." Put together, the word describes an organism's ability to endure salty conditions. It is used mainly in biology and ecology, where it names the capacity of plants, microbes, and animals to survive and function in high-salt environments such as saline soils, salt marshes, or seawater.