Mesophile

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An organism that grows best in environments with moderate temperatures, typically between 20 and 45 degrees Celsius
2. A living thing that prefers warm but not extreme conditions and reproduces optimally at intermediate temperature ranges
3. A microorganism or other life form adapted to thrive in moderately warm habitats rather than at extreme temperature extremes

Etymology: Mesophile is built from two Greek elements: "mesos", meaning "middle", and "philos", meaning "loving" or "fond of". Put together, the term describes an organism that thrives in moderate conditions, neither very hot nor very cold, and in microbiology it most often refers to microbes that grow best at moderate temperatures and moderate levels of acidity or salinity. The first element appears in many scientific coinages, such as "mesozoic" and "mesoderm", where it marks something in the middle. The second, "-phile", is a suffix from "philos" that scientists attached to many words describing a preference for a particular environment or substance, so a "mesophile" is literally a middle-lover. The pattern is a deliberate modern construction from classical parts, not a term used by the ancient Greeks themselves.

Synonyms: mesophilic organism