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Glyc– 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. Glyc– is often used in scientific terms, especially in chemistry.

Glyc– comes from Greek �������ý��, meaning “sweet.” The Latin translation (and perhaps cognate) of �������ý�� 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 glyc-?

Glyc- is a variant of glyco-, which loses its -o- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels.

Less common variants of glyc- are gluco- and gluc-, as in glucolipid and glucan.

Want to know more? Read our �y��vlogs That Use articles on glyco-, gluco-, and gluc-.

A medical term that uses glyc- that you may have encountered is glycemia, “the presence of glucose in the blood.”

The form glyc- means “sugar” or “glucose,” as we already know. The form -emia denotes a blood condition, from Greek haîma. Glycemia literally means “a glucose blood condition.”

What are some words that use the combining form glyc-?

• glycan
• glyceric
• glycerin (using the equivalent form of glyc- in French)
• glycin
• glycol (using the equivalent form of glyc- in French)
• glycose

What are some other forms that glyc- may be commonly confused with?

• glio-
• gloss-
• glott-
• gymn-
• gyr-
• leuc-
• lys-

The suffix -ol denotes chemical derivatives. With this in mind, what does glycol literally mean?