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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fatty acid

Historical Examples of fatty acid

In addition to members of the fatty-acid series, mention may be made of the following well-known acids.
An Elementary Study of Chemistry
William McPherson

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

fatty acid in Medicine

fatty acid

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

fatty acid in Science

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.