How is sulfuric acid named from the sulfate ion?

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The structure of phosphorous acid, H3PO3. — oxyacid The structure of phosphorous acid, H₃PO₃.

The naming convention for oxyacids is based on the name of the corresponding anion. When an anion name ends in -ate, the suffix is replaced by -ic to form the name of the acid.1

Following this rule, sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) is named by taking the root of the sulfate ion (SO₄²⁻) and replacing the -ate suffix with -ic, resulting in the name sulfuric acid.1