sucrose

Sucrose is the chemical name for the ordinary white sugar you stir into your iced tea or mix into your cookie batter. There is also sucrose in honey, maple syrup, and dates.

There are many types of sugar, and sucrose is one of the most familiar. The sugar in your sugar bowl is sucrose that's been refined from sugar cane or beets. Other plants naturally produce sucrose, including sorghum and date palm. Eating too much sucrose can be bad for your health — an excessive amount can even lead to type 2 diabetes and tooth decay. Sucrose comes from the French sucre, "sugar," and the chemical ending -ose.

Definitions of sucrose

1. noun

   a complex carbohydrate found in many plants and used as a sweetening agent
   synonyms: saccharose

   types:

   brain sugar, galactose

   a simple sugar found in lactose

   type of:

   disaccharide

   any of a variety of carbohydrates that yield two monosaccharide molecules on complete hydrolysis

   plant product

   a product made from plant material