carbohydrate

English

Etymology

From their general formula C_n(H₂O)_n; they were once thought to be hydrates of carbon.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɑːbəʊˈhaɪdɹeɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɑːɹboʊˈhaɪdɹeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

carbohydrate (plural carbohydrates)

1. (organic chemistry, nutrition) A sugar, starch, or cellulose that is a food source of energy for an animal or plant.

   Synonyms: (informal) carb, saccharide; see also Thesaurus:carbohydrate

   These microbes are primarily responsible for breaking down cellulose and other carbohydrates into volatile fatty acids (VFAs).

   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.

2. (colloquial, by extension, metonymically) Any food rich in starch or other carbohydrates.

   I'm cutting down on carbohydrates like bread and pasta.

Derived terms

• amino carbohydrate
• anticarbohydrate
• carbohydrate loading
• carbo-load
• complex carbohydrate
• lipocarbohydrate
• noncarbohydrate
• polycarbohydrate
• simple carbohydrate
• thiocarbohydrate
• white carbohydrate

 

Translations

organic compounds such as sugar, starch or cellulose

• Albanian: karbohidrat (sq) m
• Arabic: كَرْبُوهِيدْرَات pl (karbūhīdrāt)
• Armenian: ածխաջուր (hy) (acxaǰur)
• Azerbaijani: karbohidrat
• Belarusian: вугляво́д m (vuhljavód)
• Bulgarian: въглехидра́т (bg) m (vǎglehidrát)
• Burmese: ကစီဓာတ် (my) (ka.cidhat)
• Catalan: carbohidrat (ca) m, hidrat de carboni (ca) m, glúcid (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 碳水化合物 (taan³ seoi² faa³ hap⁶ mat⁶), 醣類 / 糖类 (tong⁴ leoi⁶), 糖類 / 糖类 (tong⁴ leoi⁶)

  Mandarin: 碳水化合物 (zh) (tànshuǐhuàhéwù), 醣類 / 糖类 (zh) (tánglèi), 糖類 / 糖类 (zh) (tánglèi)

• Czech: sacharid (cs) m, uhlohydrát m
• Danish: kulhydrat n
• Dutch: koolhydraat (nl) n
• Esperanto: karbonhidrato
• Estonian: süsivesik
• Finnish: hiilihydraatti (fi)
• French: glucide (fr) m
• Galician: carbohidrato (gl) m
• Georgian: ნახშირწყალი (naxširc̣q̇ali)
• German: Kohlenhydrat (de) n
• Greek: υδατάνθρακας (el) m (ydatánthrakas)
• Hawaiian: kōpia
• Hindi: कार्बोहाइड्रेट m (kārbohāiḍreṭ)
• Hungarian: szénhidrát (hu)
• Icelandic: kolvetni (is) n
• Ido: karbohidrato (io)
• Indonesian: karbohidrat (id) n
• Irish: carbaihiodráit f
• Italian: carboidrato (it) m
• Japanese: 炭水化物 (ja) (たんすいかぶつ, tansuikabutsu), 含水炭素 (がんすいたんそ, gansuitanso) (obsolete)
• Kazakh: көмірсу (kömırsu)
• Khmer: កាបូអ៊ីដ្រាត (kaabouʼiidraat)
• Korean: 탄수화물(炭水化物) (ko) (tansuhwamul)
• Kyrgyz: көмүрсуу (kömürsuu)
• Latvian: ogļhidrāts (lv) m
• Lithuanian: angliavandenis m
• Macedonian: јаглехидра́т m (jaglehidrát)
• Malay: karbohidrat (ms)
• Maori: warowaihā
• Marathi: कर्बोदक n (karbodak)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: нүүрс ус (nüürs us)

  Mongolian: ᠨᠡᠭᠦᠷᠡᠰᠦ
  ᠤᠰᠤ (negüresü usu)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: karbohydrat (no) n, kullhydrat (no) n

  Nynorsk: karbohydrat n

• Persian: کربوهیدرات (karbohidrât)
• Polish: węglowodan (pl) m, sacharyd (pl) m
• Portuguese: carboidrato (pt) m
• Romanian: carbohidrat (ro) m
• Russian: углево́д (ru) m (uglevód), карбогидра́т m (karbogidrát)
• Scottish Gaelic: gualaisg m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: угљени хидрат m, угљикохидрат m, карбохидрат m

  Roman: ugljeni hidrat m, ugljikohidrat m, karbohidrat m

• Slovak: sacharid m, uhľohydrát m
• Slovene: ogljikov hidrat m
• Spanish: carbohidrato m, hidrato de carbono
• Swahili: hamirojo, kabohaidreti
• Swedish: kolhydrat (sv) c
• Tajik: карбогидрат (karbogidrat), ангиштоб (angištob)
• Thai: คาร์โบไฮเดรต (th) (kaa-boo-hai-drèet)
• Turkish: karbonhidrat (tr)
• Turkmen: uglewod
• Ukrainian: вуглево́д m (vuhlevód)
• Uzbek: uglevod
• Vietnamese: hyđat-cacbon
• Welsh: carbohydrad m
• Zhuang: danqsuijvaqhozvuz

Further reading

• carbohydrate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia