Standard Lemma guide

inositol

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ʌɪˈnəʊ.sɪ.tɒl/
  • General-American: /ɪˈnoʊ.səˌtɒl/
  • General-American: /aɪˈnoʊ.səˌtɒl/
  • General-American: /ɪˈnoʊ.səˌtoʊl/
  • General-American: /aɪˈnoʊ.səˌtoʊl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A simple carbocyclic sugar (hexahydroxycyclohexane; chemical formula: C6H12O6) which occurs in animal and plant tissue. Once treated as part of the vitamin B complex, but is not a vitamin as it can be synthesized by the body.

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: inosite

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an optically inactive alcohol that is a component of the vitamin B complex

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: B-complex vitamin, B complex, vitamin B complex, vitamin B, B vitamin, B

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyh1- Proto-Indo-European *wéyh1sder. Proto-Hellenic *wīs Ancient Greek *ϝῑ́ς (*wī́s) Ancient Greek ῑ̓νός (īnós) Proto-Indo-European *-tósder. Ancient Greek -της (-tēs)der. Ancient Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs)der. Latin -ītēsbor. French -iteder. English -ite English inosite Akkadian 𒎎𒋆𒁉𒍣𒁕 (guḫlum)bor. Aramaic כוחלא (kuḥlā)bor. Arabic كُحْل (kuḥl) Andalusian Arabic اَلْكُحُول (al-kuḥūl)bor. Medieval Latin alcoholder. Middle English alcofol English alcohol English -ol English inositol From its former name inosite + -ol (“an alcohol”), from Ancient Greek ἰνός (inós, genitive singular of ἴς (ís, “sinew, tendon”)) + -ite.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 肌醇 (jīchún) — carbocyclic sugar
  • Czech: inositol — carbocyclic sugar
  • Japanese: イノシトール (inoshitōru) — carbocyclic sugar
  • Kazakh: инозитол (inozitol) — carbocyclic sugar
  • Korean: 이노시톨 (inositol) — carbocyclic sugar
  • Romanian: inozitol — carbocyclic sugar