Phrase guide

essential amino acid

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

One of the nine naturally occurring amino acids that the human body cannot synthesize, and so must be provided by dietary protein.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: nonessential amino acid

2

noun

Meaning 2

an amino acid that is required by animals but that they cannot synthesize; must be supplied in the diet

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: amino acid, aminoalkanoic acid

Narrower terms: arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, tryptophane, valine

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Basque: aminoazido esentzial — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Bulgarian: незаменима аминокиселина (nezamenima aminokiselina) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Catalan: aminoàcid essencial — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Chinese Cantonese: 必需氨基酸 (bit1 seoi1 on1 gei1 syun1) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Chinese: 必需氨基酸 (pì-su an-ki-sng) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Chinese Mandarin: 必需氨基酸 (bìxū ānjīsuān) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Czech: esenciální aminokyselina — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Dutch: essentieel aminozuur — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Esperanto: enda aminoacido — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Finnish: välttämätön aminohappo — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • French: acide aminé essentiel — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Galician: aminoácido esencial — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • German: essentielle Aminosäure — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Hungarian: esszenciális aminosav — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Italian: amminoacido essenziale — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Japanese: 必須アミノ酸 (hissu amino-san) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Japanese: 不可欠アミノ酸 (fukaketsu amino-san) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Korean: 필수 아미노산 (pilsu aminosan) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Korean: 불가결 아미노산 (bulgagyeol aminosan) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Polish: aminokwas egzogenny — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Portuguese: aminoácido essencial — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Romanian: aminoacid esențial — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Russian: незамени́мая аминокислота́ (nezamenímaja aminokislotá) — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Slovak: esenciálna aminokyselina — amino acid which is a dietry requirement
  • Spanish: aminoácido esencial — amino acid which is a dietry requirement