Phrase guide

essential fatty acid

noun · 1 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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized by the body and must be present in the diet; originally designated as vitamin F

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Cantonese: 必需脂肪酸 (bit1 seoi1 zi1 fong1 syun1) — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized
  • Chinese Mandarin: 必需脂肪酸 (bìxū zhīfángsuān) — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized
  • French: acide gras essentiel — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized
  • Japanese: 必須脂肪酸 (hissu shibōsan) — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized
  • Japanese: 不可欠脂肪酸 (fukaketsu shibōsan) — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized
  • Korean: 필수 지방산 (pilsu jibangsan) — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized
  • Korean: 불가결 지방산 (bulgagyeol jibangsan) — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized
  • Slovak: esenciálna mastná kyselina — any fatty acid required for human metabolism that cannot be synthesized