monosaccharide

Mon`o*sac"cha*ride, n. Also -rid . [Mono- + saccharide.] (Chem.) Defn: A simple sugar; any of a number of sugars (including the trioses, tetroses, pentoses, hexoses, etc.), not decomposable into simpler sugars by hydrolysis. Specif., as used by some, a hexose. The monosaccharides are all open-chain compounds containing hydroxyl groups and either an aldehyde group or a ketone group.

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