organic compound

This term is a technical designation used primarily in chemistry and biochemistry to distinguish carbon-based molecules from inorganic substances. While the word organic is often used in a culinary or agricultural context to refer to food grown without synthetic pesticides, in a scientific context it refers strictly to the chemical composition of the molecule regardless of its source or production method.

Because this is a compound noun consisting of an adjective and a noun, the pluralization occurs on the head noun compound. It is used in formal academic and laboratory settings to categorize a vast array of substances, from simple methane to complex proteins and DNA.