carbohydrate

noun carbohydrate

• sugar — a sweet, crystalline substance, C 1 2 H 2 2 O 1 1 , obtained chiefly from the juice of the sugarcane and the sugar beet, and present in sorghum, maple sap, etc.: used extensively as an ingredient and flavoring of certain foods and as a fermenting agent in the manufacture of certain alcoholic beverages; sucrose. Compare beet sugar, cane sugar.
• starch — a white, tasteless, solid carbohydrate, (C 6 H 1 0 O 5) n , occurring in the form of minute granules in the seeds, tubers, and other parts of plants, and forming an important constituent of rice, corn, wheat, beans, potatoes, and many other vegetable foods.
• lactose — Biochemistry. a disaccharide, C 12 H 22 O 11 , present in milk, that upon hydrolysis yields glucose and galactose.
• glucose — a sugar, C 6 H 12 O 6 , having several optically different forms, the common dextrorotatory form (dextroglucose, or -glucose) occurring in many fruits, animal tissues and fluids, etc., and having a sweetness about one half that of ordinary sugar, and the rare levorotatory form (levoglucose, or -glucose) not naturally occurring.
• cellulose — Cellulose is a substance that exists in the cell walls of plants and is used to make paper, plastic, and various fabrics and fibres.