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fructose

American  
[fruhk-tohs, frook-, frook-] / ˈfrʌk toʊs, ˈfrʊk-, ˈfruk- /

noun

  1. Chemistry, Pharmacology. a yellowish to white, crystalline, water-soluble, levorotatory ketose sugar, C 6 H 12 O 6 , sweeter than sucrose, occurring in invert sugar, honey, and a great many fruits: used in foodstuffs and in medicine chiefly in solution as an intravenous nutrient.

fructose British  
/ -təʊz, ˈfrʌktəʊs, ˈfrʊk- /

noun

  1. Also called: laevulose.   fruit sugar.  a white crystalline water-soluble sugar occurring in honey and many fruits. Formula: C 6 H 12 O 6

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
fructose Scientific  
/ frŭk′tōs′ /

  1. A simple sugar (monosaccharide) found in honey, many fruits, and some vegetables. Fructose linked to glucose is the structure of table sugar, or sucrose. Fructose is an important source of energy for cellular processes. Chemical formula: C 6 H 12 O 6 .

Etymology

Origin of fructose

First recorded in 1860–65; fruct- + -ose 2

Explanation

Fructose is a kind of sugar. You consume fructose every time you eat an apple or a bunch of grapes, or when you stir honey into your tea and take a sip. Fructose is also known as "fruit sugar" because it's present in most types of fruit. Chemically, fructose is a simple or hexose sugar, one with six carbon atoms in it, and it's absorbed directly into your bloodstream when you eat it. It's also one of the very sweetest sugars. The word dates from 1857, from the Latin fructus, or "fruit," and the suffix -ose, used in chemical names of sugars.

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Vocabulary lists containing fructose

Nutrition - Introductory

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Nutrition - Middle School

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Nutrition - High School

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And it is one of very few to still use real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026

The findings come from a study published in Science Signaling that builds on years of research into how fructose affects the liver and other organs.

From Science Daily • Dec. 17, 2025

Enzymes in the gut can generate sorbitol, which is then transported to the liver and converted into fructose.

From Science Daily • Dec. 17, 2025

"These findings make an important contribution to understanding how individual food components and fructose in particular can influence the immune system," says Bergheim.

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2025

Yet in nature we would never find a fruit with anywhere near the amount of fructose in a soda.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.