Meanings
nounextremophile (plural extremophiles)
plural extremophiles
- biologyAny of many organisms that live under extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, salinity, etc; many are autotrophs; some are commercially important as a source of enzymes that operate under similar conditions.
Lichens are 'extremophiles', organisms able to live, from our point of view, in other worlds.
2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 951 more example
They had found the world's first extremophiles – organisms that could live in water that had previously been assumed to be much too hot or acid or choked with sulphur to bear life.
2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, page 207
Origin
- Englishextreme
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰil-
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰil-o-s
- Ancient Greekφίλος (phílos)
- Englishextremophile
Translations
Catalan extremòfil
- extremòfilorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Chinese Mandarin 嗜極生物 /嗜极生物
- 嗜極生物 /嗜极生物 (shìjí shēngwù)organism that lives under extreme conditions
Dutch extremofiel
- extremofielorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Finnish ekstremofiili
- ekstremofiiliorganism that lives under extreme conditions
French extrêmophile
- extrêmophileorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Greek ακρόφιλος, ακραιόφιλος
- ακρόφιλος (akrófilos)organism that lives under extreme conditions
- ακραιόφιλος (akraiófilos)organism that lives under extreme conditions
Italian estremofilo
- estremofiloorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Polish ekstremofil
- ekstremofilorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Portuguese extremófilo
- extremófiloorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Russian экстремофи́л
- экстремофи́л (ekstremofíl)organism that lives under extreme conditions
Spanish extremófilo
- extremófiloorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Swedish extremofil
- extremofilorganism that lives under extreme conditions
Cite this entry
APA
extremophile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extremophile
MLA
“extremophile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extremophile. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “extremophile,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extremophile.
Source: extremophile on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.