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fatty acid

fatty acid

30 3.3
A long acid made of carbon and hydrogen atoms found in fats and oils
  • noun
  • /ˈfæti ˈæsɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ácido graso
  • Fish lipids have received great attention over the last two decades because they are rich in fatty acids.
  • polyunsaturated fatty acids
  • unsaturated fatty acids
  • saturated fatty acids

It is primary site for fatty acid oxidation.

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Examples

  • Pumpkin seed oil is rich in linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Even with the right diet, you are not eliciting short chain fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory.

  • OK, so normally those free fatty acids come out of fat cells.

  • Are you getting enough fatty acids in your diet?

  • Increases in the amount of free fatty acid in plasma have been indicated.

    Academic text (1997)
  • It's got omega-3 fatty acids.

  • Palmitic acid is the most common fatty acid found in plants, microorganisms, and animals.

    Academic text (2015)
  • There are two main types of Omega-3 fatty acids: short chain and long-chain.

    Blog text (9)
  • The study includes their proximate, amino acid, and fatty acid compositions.

    Academic text (2015)
  • A balanced diet should include sufficient fatty acids to support overall health.

Surface Forms

fatty acid singular
fatty acids plural

Morphology

fatty + acid

The compound meaning is directly derivable from 'fatty' (relating to fat) + 'acid' (a type of chemical): a B1 learner who knows both words can reasonably infer this refers to an acid associated with fats/oils. The formation is a regular, compositional noun phrase found cross-linguistically; while the precise chemical details (chain length, organic chemistry) are specialized, they do not prevent basic understanding of the term.

Etymology

Fatty acid gives a simple image: it is a long, greasy piece of fat, with fatty showing where it comes from and acid showing that one end behaves like a sour 'head'. So fatty acid means a small part that makes up fats, or 'part of fats'.