A yellowish oily mixture of fatty acids, formerly thought to be a single acid, which was originally obtained from tuberculosis bacilli and is capable of inducing some of the symptoms of tuberculosis; (in later use) any of the constituent acids of this mixture or their synthetic derivatives.
Origin
1920s.
Definition of phthioic acid in US English:
phthioic acid
noun
Biochemistry rare
A yellowish oily mixture of fatty acids, formerly thought to be a single acid, which was originally obtained from tuberculosis bacilli and is capable of inducing some of the symptoms of tuberculosis; (in later use) any of the constituent acids of this mixture or their synthetic derivatives.