Mon`o*sac"cha*ride (?), n. Also - rid . [Mono- + saccharide.] (Chem.)
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.
© Webster 1913