脂肪醇为具有8至22碳原子链的脂肪族的醇类。脂肪醇通常具有偶数的碳原子和一个连接于碳链末端的羟基。一些脂肪醇为不饱和醇，而一些为支链醇。这些醇类都广泛应用于化学工业。

脂肪醇在天然当中并不大量存在，只存在于如：蜡、脂肪酸酯和脂肪醇。 脂肪醇直到1900年才被发现。他当村通过钠和蜡酯进行布沃－布朗还原反应得到。进入19世纪30年代催化氢化方法开始进入商用领域，该法将脂肪酸酯也就是通常的动物油脂通过氢化反应得到脂肪醇。到了40年代和50年代，石化原料开始成为重要的化工原料，Karl Ziegler发现了乙烯的聚合反应。这两个重要发现打开了合成脂肪醇的大门。

Fatty alcohols (or long-chain alcohols) are usually high-molecular-weight, straight-chain primary alcohols, but can also range from as few as 4-6 carbons to as many as 22-26, derived from natural fats and oils. The precise chain length varies with the source. Some commercially important fatty alcohols are lauryl, stearyl, and oleyl alcohols. They are colourless oily liquids (for smaller carbon numbers) or waxy solids, although impure samples may appear yellow. Fatty alcohols usually have an even number of carbon atoms and a single alcohol group (-OH) attached to the terminal carbon. Some are unsaturated and some are branched. They are widely used in industry. As with fatty acids, they are often referred to generically by the number of carbon atoms in the molecule, such as "a C12 alcohol", that is an alcohol having 12 carbons, for example dodecanol.