唾液酸是神经氨酸中氨基酸或羟基氢被取代的一类衍生物的总称，通常也指代此类化合物中最重要的成员之一N-乙酰神经氨酸。唾液酸广泛存在于动物体组织，在其他生物体也有少量分布，主要作为糖蛋白和神经节苷脂的组分。唾液酸取代基通常为乙酰基或羟乙酰基，不过甲基、硫酸酯基、磷酸酯基取代氨基的唾液酸也已被发现。 唾液酸由瑞典生物化学家贡纳尔·布利克斯等人于1952年发现，其名称来源于希腊语σιαλοσ（sialos），最初由唾液粘蛋白中分离而而得名。

Sialic acid is a generic term for the N- or O-substituted derivatives of neuraminic acid, a monosaccharide with a nine-carbon backbone. It is also the name for the most common member of this group, N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac or NANA). Sialic acids are found widely distributed in animal tissues and to a lesser extent in other organisms, ranging from plants and fungi to yeasts and bacteria, mostly in glycoproteins and gangliosides (they occur at the end of sugar chains connected to the surfaces of cells and soluble proteins). That is because it seems to have appeared late in evolution. However, it has been observed in Drosophila embryos and other insects and in the capsular polysaccharides of certain strains of bacteria. In humans the brain has the highest sialic acid concentration, where these acids play an important role in neural transmission and ganglioside structure in synaptogenesis. In general, the amino group bears either an acetyl or a glycolyl group, but other modifications have been described. These modifications along with linkages have shown to be tissue specific and developmentally regulated expressions, so some of them are only found on certain types of glycoconjugates in specific cells. The hydroxyl substituents may vary considerably; acetyl, lactyl, methyl, sulfate, and phosphate groups have been found. The term "sialic acid" (from the Greek for saliva, σίαλον/sialon) was first introduced by Swedish biochemist Gunnar Blix in 1952.