a suffix used in chemical terminology to form the names of sugars and other carbohydrates (amylose; fructose; hexose; lactose), and of protein derivatives (proteose).
standard ending in chemical names of sugars, originally simply a noun-forming suffix, taken up by French chemists mid-19c.; it has no etymological connection with sugar. It appears around the same time in two chemical names, cellulose, which would owe it to the French suffix, and glucose, where it would be a natural result from the Greek original. Flood favors origin from glucose.
1
word-forming element used to make adjectives from nouns, with the meaning "full of, abounding in, having qualities of," from Latin -osus (cf. -ous).
