Esterification is the process of producing an ester from the reaction of an alcohol and a carboxylic acid. An acid is used as the catalyst. The general reaction can be expressed as:

The –OH part of alcohol and the –H present in acid get removed and form water as the byproduct. The nomenclature of ester is of the form “alkyl alkanoate” where the alkyl part is derived from the alcohol and the alkanoate part is derived from the carboxylic acid.