Skip to main content
glyceric acid

glyceric acid

8.7
A thick acidic liquid made from a chemical called glycerol used in biology research
  • noun
  • /ɡlɪˈsɛrɪk ˈæsɪd/
  • Specialized
: ácido glicérico
  • The oxidation of glycerol produces glyceric acid as one of its primary products.

Examples

  • Glyceric acid plays a role in several metabolic pathways in living organisms.

  • Researchers measured the concentration of glyceric acid in the fermentation samples.

  • The laboratory uses glyceric acid for various experiments.

  • Can you explain the properties of glyceric acid?

  • In the research study, scientists analyzed the effects of glyceric acid on cellular metabolism.

  • The production of glyceric acid from glycerol is essential for various biochemical applications.

  • During their experiments, the students observed the reactivity of glyceric acid with different compounds.

Surface Forms

glyceric acid singular

Morphology

glyceric + acid

The compound is morphologically compositional: 'glyceric' is a regular adjectival formation meaning 'relating to glycerol/glyceraldehyde' and 'acid' names an acidic substance, so the phrase straightforwardly denotes an acid derived from or related to glycerol. Although the term is technical and infrequent, the -ic adjectival pattern and chemical naming conventions are regular, so a learner who knows the constituents (or recognizes the glycer- + -ic morphology) can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Glyceric acid comes from glycerol, a sweet, syrupy liquid found in fats. When that liquid is changed into an acid, people called the result glyceric acid, so the name means 'the acid of glycerol'.