ricinoleic acid

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An unsaturated fatty acid, C₁₈H₃₄O₃, prepared from castor oil and used in making soaps and in textile finishing.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Chem.) An organic acid (C18H34O3) obtained from the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi) and other species of the family Euphorbiaceae; chemicaly it is d-12-hydroxyoleic acid (CH3(CH2)5.CH(OH).CH2.CH=CH.(CH2)7COOH). Formerly called palmic acid.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun organic chemistry An unsaturated fatty acid, 12-hydroxy-oleic acid, present in castor oil; used in textile finishing, ink and soap.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an oily fatty acid found in castor oil and used in soap