gluco-

American  

1. variant of glyco-.

   glucoprotein.

---

Usage

What does gluco- mean? Gluco- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “sugar" or "glucose and its derivatives." Glucose is a sugar found in many fruits, animal tissues and fluids, and other sources. Gluco- is occasionally used in scientific terms, especially in chemistry. Gluco- comes from Greek glykýs, meaning “sweet." While the Greek letter upsilon is usually transliterated into English as y, it is occasionally adapted as u, as we can see with gluco-. The Latin translation (and perhaps cognate) of glykýs is dulcis, “sweet,” which is the source of sweetness-related terms such as dulcet and, through Italian, dolce vita. To learn more, check out our entries for both words. What are variants of gluco-?When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, gluco- becomes gluc-, as in glucide. More common variants of gluco- are glyco- and glyc-, as in glycogenetic and glycol.  Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles about gluc-, glyco-, and glyc-.