fatty acid

American  

noun

Biochemistry.

1. 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.

---

fatty acid British  

noun

1. any of a class of aliphatic carboxylic acids, such as palmitic acid, stearic acid, and oleic acid, that form part of a lipid molecule

2. another name for carboxylic acid, used esp of a naturally occurring one

---

fatty acid Scientific  

/ făt′ē /

1. 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.

---

Etymology

Origin of fatty acid

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

These mutant cells also lacked vesicles, small membrane-bound compartments that typically form inside the peroxisome during fatty acid processing.

From Science Daily • Apr. 25, 2026

Blood samples from patients with mucormycosis showed higher levels of fatty acid oxidation, which may help explain why they were more susceptible to infection.

From Science Daily • Mar. 3, 2026

Headquartered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Cabio Biotech is one of the world's largest producers of ARA, a fatty acid used primarily in baby formula and food products.

From Barron's • Jan. 31, 2026

Blood samples were collected before, during, and after supplementation to observe how the body processed the fatty acid.

From Science Daily • Oct. 29, 2025

Omega-6 is another fatty acid essential to humans.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan