Standard Lemma guide

polysaccharide

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

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  • CMU ARPABET: P AA2 L IY2 S AE1 K ER0 AY2 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A polymer made of many saccharide units linked by glycosidic bonds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

Examples

  • Meronym: saccharide
  • Cellulose, starches, and complex carbohydrates, such as glycogen, are common polysaccharides in biology.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: carbohydrate, polymer, molecule, compound, substance

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of a class of carbohydrates whose molecules contain chains of monosaccharide molecules

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: polyose

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: carbohydrate, saccharide, sugar

Narrower terms: heparin, Lipo-Hepin, Liquaemin, chitin, cellulose, glycogen, animal starch, inulin, dextrin, mucopolysaccharide, starch, amylum

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleh1- Proto-Indo-European *polh1ús Ancient Greek πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)lbor. English poly- Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh2 Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćárkaraH Proto-Indo-Aryan *śárkaraH Sanskrit शर्क॑रा (śárkarā) Pali sakkharābor. Ancient Greek σάκχᾰρον (sákkhăron)bor. Latin saccharon Latin saccharum English saccharo- Proto-Indo-European *dheh1-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idusder. English -ide English saccharide English polysaccharide From poly- + saccharide.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: polisacàrid — complex carbohydrate
  • Chinese Cantonese: 多醣 /多糖 (do1 tong4) — complex carbohydrate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多醣 /多糖 (duōtáng) — complex carbohydrate
  • Czech: polysacharid — complex carbohydrate
  • Dutch: polysacharide — complex carbohydrate
  • Finnish: polysakkaridi — complex carbohydrate
  • French: polysaccharide — complex carbohydrate
  • German: Polysaccharid — complex carbohydrate
  • Hungarian: poliszacharid — complex carbohydrate
  • Indonesian: polisakarida — complex carbohydrate
  • Italian: polisaccaride — complex carbohydrate
  • Japanese: 多糖 (tatō) — complex carbohydrate
  • Malay: polisakarida — complex carbohydrate
  • Māori: hukarau — complex carbohydrate
  • Persian: پلیساکارید (poli-sâkârid) — complex carbohydrate
  • Polish: polisacharyd — complex carbohydrate
  • Portuguese: polissacarídeo — complex carbohydrate
  • Spanish: polisacárido — complex carbohydrate
  • Swedish: polysackarid — complex carbohydrate
  • Turkish: polisakkarit — complex carbohydrate
  • Ukrainian: полісахари́д (polisaxarýd) — complex carbohydrate
  • Ukrainian: поліцукри́д (policukrýd) — complex carbohydrate