- A solid crystallizable fat, found abundantly in animals
and in vegetables. It occurs mixed with stearin and olein in the fat of
animal tissues, with olein and butyrin in butter, with olein in olive
oil, etc. Chemically, it is a glyceride of palmitic acid, three
molecules of palmitic acid being united to one molecule of glyceryl,
and hence it is technically called tripalmitin, or glyceryl
tripalmitate.
Definition
[ n.]