stearic acid
- noun
- /ˈstɪərɪk ˈæsɪd/
- Specialized
:
ácido esteárico
- Stearic acid is commonly found in stearic acid and is often used in the production of soaps.
- stearic acid content
Examples
-
Overall, the F3 populations revealed increased mean values for oil content, linoleic acid, stearic acid, and the ratio of unsaturated/saturated fatty acids, while for other traits the mean values were not significantly different.
Academic text (2015) -
The borax and washing soda will turn the stearic acid and lauric acid of Dove into sodium stearate and sodium laurate, respectively.
Blog text (18) -
Overall, the F3 populations revealed greater mean values than parental genotypes for oil content, linoleic acid, stearic acid, and the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids, while for other traits, the average mean values were comparable.
Academic text (2015) -
Many chocolate products contain stearic acid, which contributes to their texture and stability.
-
In dietary discussions, stearic acid is noted for its unique properties compared to other saturated fats.
Synonyms
A type of fat found in animal and vegetable fats, called stearic acid
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a compositional chemical compound: 'stearic' means relating to fat or stearic derivatives and 'acid' denotes a type of chemical substance, so together they denote a fatty acid (an acid related to stearic/fat). Chemical naming conventions are regular and cross-linguistically similar, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
The noun stearic acid comes from an old word stear that meant animal 'fat'. Chemists first found this hard, waxy acid in animal fats, so the name shows that stearic acid is the fatty part that helps make candles and soaps firm.
