fatty acid

noun Biochemistry.

any of a class of aliphatic acids, especially palmitic, stearic, or oleic acid, consisting of a long hydrocarbon chain ending in a carboxyl group that bonds to glycerol to form a fat.

Origin of fatty acid

First recorded in 1860–65

Words nearby fatty acid

fatted calf, kill the, fatten, fattish, fattism, fatty, fatty acid, fatty acid oxidation cycle, fatty alcohol, fatty cirrhosis, fatty degeneration, fatty heart

Example sentences from the Web for fatty acid

British Dictionary definitions for fatty acid

fatty acid

noun

any of a class of aliphatic carboxylic acids, such as palmitic acid, stearic acid, and oleic acid, that form part of a lipid molecule
another name for carboxylic acid, used esp of a naturally occurring one

Medical definitions for fatty acid

fatty acid

n.

Any of a large group of long-chain monobasic organic acids hydrolytically derived from fats.

Scientific definitions for fatty acid

fatty acid
[ făt′ē ]

Any of a large group of organic acids, especially those found in animal and vegetable fats and oils. Fatty acids are mainly composed of long chains of hydrocarbons ending in a carboxyl group. A fatty acid is saturated when the bonds between carbon atoms are all single bonds. It is unsaturated when any of these bonds is a double bond.