galactose

/geuh lak"tohs/, n. Chem.

a white, crystalline, water-soluble hexose sugar, C₆H₁₂O₆, obtained in its dextrorotatory form from milk sugar by hydrolysis and in its levorotatory form from mucilages.

[1865-70; GALACT- + -OSE²]

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Organic compound, a monosaccharide, chemical formula C₆H₁₂O₆.

It is usually found in nature combined with other sugars, for example, in lactose, in polysaccharides, and in glycolipids, carbohydrate-containing lipids that occur in the brain and other nervous tissues of most animals. It has uses in organic synthesis and in medicine.

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▪ chemical compound

      a member of a group of carbohydrates known as simple sugars (monosaccharides). It is usually found in nature combined with other sugars, as, for example, in lactose (milk sugar). Galactose is also found in complex carbohydrates (see polysaccharide) and in carbohydrate-containing lipids called glycolipids, which occur in the brain and other nervous tissues of most animals.

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