Standard Lemma guide

glycogen

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɡlaɪ.kə.d͡ʒn̩/
  • /ˈɡlɪ.kə.d͡ʒn̩/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: G L AY1 K AH0 JH IH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals; converted to glucose as needed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

one form in which body fuel is stored; stored primarily in the liver and broken down into glucose when needed by the body

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: animal starch

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: polysaccharide, polyose

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Hellenic *dlukús Ancient Greek γλῠκῠ́ς (glŭkŭ́s)der. French glyco- Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh1- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh1os Proto-Hellenic *génos Ancient Greek γένος (génos) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ēs Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs) Ancient Greek -γενής (-genḗs)lbor. French -gène French glycogènebor. English glycogen Borrowed from French glycogène. By surface analysis, glyco- + -gen.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: glicogen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Catalan: glucogen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Chinese Mandarin: 糖原 (tángyuán) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Chinese Mandarin: 肝糖 (gāntáng) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Czech: glykogen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Dutch: glycogeen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Esperanto: glikogeno — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Finnish: glykogeeni — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • French: glycogène — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • German: Glykogen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Greek: γλυκογόνο (glykogóno) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Icelandic: glýkógen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Icelandic: dýrasterkja — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Ido: glikogeno — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Indonesian: glikogen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Italian: glicogeno — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Japanese: 糖原 (tōgen) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Japanese: グリコーゲン (gurikōgen) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Kazakh: гликоген (glikogen) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Korean: 글리코젠 (geullikojen) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Malay: glikogen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Malay: kanji haiwan — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Persian: گلیکوژن (gelikožen) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Portuguese: glicogénio — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Portuguese: glicogênio — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Russian: гликоге́н (glikogén) — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Spanish: glucógeno — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Swedish: glykogen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
  • Turkish: glikojen — polysaccharide that is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals
Real reading context

glycogen in complete knowledge articles