Meaning & use
monosaccharide
Last updated
UK/ˌmɒnəʊˈsækəraɪd/
US/ˌmɑːnoʊˈsækəraɪd/
Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A simple sugar made of a single unit that cannot be broken down into smaller sugars, such as glucose or fructose.
Grammar: Countable: one monosaccharide, many monosaccharides.
Patterns
- a monosaccharide such as something
Glucose is a monosaccharide that cells use for energy.
The body absorbs monosaccharides directly from the gut.
Starch is built from many monosaccharides joined together.
Word forms
| plural | monosaccharides |
|---|
Common combinations
- simple monosaccharide
- Fructose is a simple monosaccharide found in fruit.
- absorb a monosaccharide
- Cells absorb a monosaccharide through the membrane.
- monosaccharide unit
- Each monosaccharide unit has six carbon atoms.
- join monosaccharides
- Enzymes join monosaccharides into long chains.
Synonyms and how they differ
- simple sugar
- Simple sugar is the everyday term and can also include disaccharides, while monosaccharide is exact.
- single sugar
- Single sugar is an informal explanation rather than a scientific term.
Opposites
polysaccharide
Word family
- disaccharide noun
- a sugar made of two units
- polysaccharide noun
- a carbohydrate made of many units
- saccharide noun
- any sugar or carbohydrate unit
Commonly confused: monosaccharide or monosaccharide vs disaccharide?
monosaccharide vs monosaccharide vs disaccharide
A monosaccharide has one sugar unit, while a disaccharide such as sucrose has two.
Practice
Which of these is a monosaccharide?
Choose one answer.
Glucose is a single sugar unit. Starch and cellulose are polysaccharides and sucrose is a disaccharide.
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