Plural of citrate; salts or esters of citric acid used in food preservation, pharmaceuticals, and industrial processes.
From citric acid plus the suffix -ate (forming salts), then pluralized with -s. Citrates became industrial mainstays in the 20th century as citric acid production scaled up.
Your body literally runs on citrates—they're crucial in the Krebs cycle, the fundamental energy-generation process in every living cell. Every time you take a breath, citrates are working inside you to release energy.
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