Standard Lemma guide

xylitol

noun · 1 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.

  • General-American: /ˈzaɪlɪtɑl/
  • General-American: /-toʊl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈzaɪlɪtɒl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A pentahydric alcohol, C5H12O5, penta-hydroxy pentane; derived from xylose; used as a sweetener.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ξύλον (xúlon, “wood”) + English -itol (“anhydric alcohol”).

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 木糖醇 (mùtángchún) — an alcohol
  • Finnish: ksylitoli — an alcohol
  • German: Xylitol — an alcohol
  • Greek: ξυλιτόλη (xylitóli) — an alcohol
  • Hungarian: xilitol — an alcohol
  • Hungarian: xilit — an alcohol
  • Hungarian: nyírfacukor — an alcohol
  • Japanese: キシリトール (kishiritōru) — an alcohol
  • Kazakh: ксилит (ksilit) — an alcohol
  • Korean: 자일리톨 (jaillitol) — an alcohol
  • Korean: 크실리톨 (keusillitol) — an alcohol
  • Kyrgyz: ксилит (ksilit) — an alcohol
  • Polish: ksylitol — an alcohol
  • Portuguese: xilitol — an alcohol
  • Russian: ксилит (ksilit) — an alcohol
  • Spanish: xilitol — an alcohol
  • Swedish: xylitol — an alcohol
  • Turkish: ksilitol — an alcohol
  • Uzbek: ksilit — an alcohol