carbohydrate
/kɑɹboʊˈhaɪdɹeɪt/noun
carbohydrate is spelled C-A-R-B-O-H-Y-D-R-A-T-E: 12 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, carbohydrate means “A sugar, starch, or cellulose that is a food source of energy for an animal or plant” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of carbohydrate is carbohydrates.
How many letters and syllables are in carbohydrate?
| Letters | 12: C-A-R-B-O-H-Y-D-R-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 23,253rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is carbohydrate?
Carbohydrate appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce carbohydrate?
- UK /kɑːbəʊˈhaɪdɹeɪt/
- US /kɑɹboʊˈhaɪdɹeɪt/
- US /kɑɹbəˈhaɪdɹeɪt/
Carbohydrate has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-carbohydrate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of carbohydrate
- carbohydrates plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does carbohydrate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sugar, starch, or cellulose that is a food source of energy for an animal or plant.
These microbes are primarily responsible for breaking down cellulose and other carbohydrates into volatile fatty acids (VFAs).
- 2
colloquialAny food rich in starch or other carbohydrates.
I'm cutting down on carbohydrates like bread and pasta.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate carbohydrate?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of carbohydrate: carb.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Carbohydrate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense organic compounds such as sugar, starch or cellulose:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | glucide |
| German | Kohlenhydrat |
| Portuguese | carboidrato |
| Spanish | carbohidrato, hidrato de carbono |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does carbohydrate come from?
From their general formula Cₙ(H₂O)ₙ; they were once thought to be hydrates of carbon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).