lactose
Meaning
a type of sugar found in milk and used in some foods and medicines.
Structure
Usage
many adults have difficulty digesting lactose.
this product is labeled as lactose-free for those with intolerances.
lactose is often used as a filler in pharmaceutical tablets.
Etymology
the word 'lactose' is a modern scientific compound formed in the early 19th century. its first element, 'lact-', is directly borrowed from the latin root for milk, 'lac' (genitive 'lactis'), which can be traced back to the proto-indo-european root ǵlákts. the second element, '-ose', was adopted as a standard chemical suffix for naming sugars, derived via french from the latin adjectival suffix '-osus'. thus, the term's construction is transparently logical, literally meaning 'milk sugar', which accurately describes its source and chemical class.
Analysis
lact is from latin 'lac, lact-' meaning 'milk'. ose is a french suffix from latin '-osus', used in chemistry to denote sugars.