extremophile

From extreme + -o- + -phile.

extremophile (plural extremophiles)

1. (ecology) Any 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.

   Hypernym: organism

   Hyponyms: acidophile, alkaliphile, barophile, piezophile, cryophile, psychrophile, halophile, hyperextremophile, hyperthermophile, microaerophile, polyextremophile, thermophile

   Coordinate term: mesophile

   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, page 207:

     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.

   • 2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 95:

     Lichens are 'extremophiles', organisms able to live, from our point of view, in other worlds.