carbohydrate
A sugar, starch, or cellulose that is a food source of energy for an animal or plant.
Example
“These microbes are primarily responsible for breaking down cellulose and other carbohydrates into volatile fatty acids (VFAs).”
Other meanings
Any food rich in starch or other carbohydrates.
“I'm cutting down on carbohydrates like bread and pasta.”
Synonyms
- sugar
Kinds of carbohydrate
- beet sugar
- cane sugar
- maple sugar
- simple sugar
- wood sugar
Related words
- lipocarbohydrate
- noncarbohydrate
- polycarbohydrate
- thiocarbohydrate
- anticarbohydrate
- carbo-load
- complex carbohydrate
- simple carbohydrate
- amino carbohydrate
- carbohydrate loading
- white carbohydrate
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “carbohydrate” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.