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Glite Dictionary
corn sugar

corn sugar

1 2.9
A sugar made from corn starch used to sweeten food and drinks
  • noun
  • /kɔrn ˈʃʌɡər/
  • US
translation icon : azúcar de maíz
  • They wanted to change the name of high fructose corn syrup to corn sugar.

Examples

  • Many bakers prefer corn sugar because it dissolves easily in liquids.

  • To enhance the sweetness of her recipe, she added corn sugar to the pancake batter.

  • The label on the soda bottle indicates that it contains corn sugar as the main sweetener.

Synonyms

glucose
vscorn sugar
75 3.4

A simple sugar that gives energy to living things and appears in many foods

is the same molecule but emphasises manufacture from cornstarch as sweetener
dextrose
vscorn sugar
  • Specialized
5 6.1

A simple sugar found in honey and fruits that people use as a sweetener and in medicine

is similar but denotes sugar made from cornstarch for food use
grape sugar
vscorn sugar
  • Specialized
3.0

A natural sweet found in grapes, honey and ripe fruit

is the same sugar produced industrially from cornstarch for sweetening foods
dextroglucose
vscorn sugar
  • Specialized
8.8

A simple sugar found in honey and fruit that gives quick energy

is the industrially produced version made from cornstarch for sweetening

Surface Forms

corn sugar singular
corn sugars plural

Morphology

corn + sugar

The compound 'corn sugar' is compositionally transparent: it denotes a type of sugar derived from corn, so a learner who knows 'corn' and 'sugar' can infer it is a sugar made from corn. The specific technical distinction (that it commonly refers to dextrose rather than table sugar) is a specialized detail, but the core meaning is directly predictable and follows common noun+noun source patterns cross-linguistically.

Etymology

Corn sugar literally names the corn and the sugar: it comes from breaking corn starch into simple sugar. So, corn sugar means a sweetener made from corn, often called 'dextrose'.