əˈskȯrbik- noun
Etymology: a- (II) + New Latin scorb utus scurvy + English -ic — more at scorbutic
1. : a crystalline water-soluble vitamin C 6 H 8 O 6 that occurs especially in fruits (as citrus fruits, tomatoes), vegetables (as leafy vegetables, new potatoes), and fresh tea leaves, that is usually obtained commercially from sorbitol by a series of synthetic steps, that is a strong reducing agent and is reversibly oxidized to dehydroascorbic acid, and that is used chiefly in the prevention and cure of scurvy and in antioxidants for food; an enolic lactone of a 2- or 3-keto aldonic acid related to xylose — called also l- ascorbic acid, vitamin C, l- xylo-ascorbic acid
2. : any of several enolic lactones of keto aldonic acids that are stereoisomers of ascorbic acid