(n)a sugar (like sucrose or fructose) that does not hydrolyse to give other sugars; the simplest group of carbohydrates, Syn.monosaccharose, simple sugar
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English (GCIDE) v.0.53Collaborative International Dictionary (GCIDE)
{ n. Also }. [ 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 Suppl. ]