glycoside

[ glahy-kuh-sahyd ]

noun

, Biochemistry.

1. any of the class of compounds that yield a sugar and an aglycon upon hydrolysis.

glycoside

/ ˌɡlaɪkəʊˈsɪdɪk; ˈɡlaɪkəʊˌsaɪd /

noun

1. any of a group of substances, such as digitoxin, derived from monosaccharides by replacing the hydroxyl group by another group. Many are important medicinal drugs See also glucoside

glycoside

/ glī′kə-sīd′ /

1. Any of various organic compounds formed from a simple sugar (monosaccharide) by replacing the hydrogen atom of one of its hydroxyl groups (OH) with the bond to another biologically active molecule. Glycosides occur abundantly in plants, especially as pigments, and are used in medicines, dyes, and cleansing agents.

Derived Forms

• glycosidic, adjective

Other Words From

• gly·co·sid·ic [glahy-k, uh, -, sid, -ik], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of glycoside¹

1925–30; glycose (a monosaccharide) + -ide

Example Sentences

Foxglove - digitalis - is a source of digitoxin, a glycoside in the drug digitalis, which has been used as a heart stimulant since 1785.

From BBC

When the flies with the gene developed into adults, their bodies carried low levels of cardiac glycoside, useful as a defense against predation.

From New York Times

The team found that just a single copy with the initial mutation confers some glycoside resistance, a property that may have enabled the change to persist long enough for other, more beneficial mutations to occur.

From Science Magazine

This assembly, an equally scentless glycoside, stays dissolved inside the grape, waiting to be cleaved apart by a different enzyme and unleashed to announce ripeness or some other message.

From Los Angeles Times

By contrast, B. bifidum deploys glycoside hydrolases to the cell wall for extracellular cleavage of HMOs before importing selected products of degradation.

From Nature