glucose

Etymology

It is borrowed from French glucose,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed irregularly^[7] on Ancient Greek γλεῦκος (gleûkos, “must, sweet wine”),^[2][3][4][8] which is related to γλυκύς (glukús, “sweet”),^[2][3][9][7] with the chemical suffix -ose.^[7][10][11] The OED and Barnhart credit the French word to the chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1838),^[2][4] while Etymonline says it was coined by Eugène Péligot.^[3] Through the Greek adjective it is related to glycerine and liquorice,^[12][13] and, according to Partridge, to Latin dulcis (“sweet”).^[12][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The commonest natural sugar: 1838 in the OED,^[2] 1840 in Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^[4][3][5] Etymonline notes that it was first obtained from grape sugar.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Between 1859 and 1911 the word was also used for any of the hexose sugars, a sense now obsolete.^[2] From 1852 it has named a commercial syrup made from starch, also called glucose syrup, used as a sweetener and thickener in food.^[2][3][14] In chemistry it names a sugar with dextrorotatory and laevorotatory forms, the dextrorotatory one also being called dextrose or grape sugar.^[10][5]

Timeline

• 1838 – the sugar, in an English report of Dumas's work.^[2]
• 1840 – Barnhart's and Merriam-Webster's first date.^[4][5]
• 1852 – a syrup made from starch.^[2]
• 1859–1911 – any hexose sugar (obsolete).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A simple sugar, found in plants and in the blood, that is a chief source of energy for living things; dextrose: Her blood glucose was checked before breakfast.
2. A thick syrup containing glucose, maltose and dextrin, made from starch and used in confectionery and other foods.

Word family

• glucosic
• glucosamine
• glucoside
• glucosuria
• glutose
• nonglucose

Related words

• licorice
• glycerine
• liquorice
• dextrose
• sucrose
• fructose

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins