Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “lactose” come from?

Lactose comes from French lactose, from Latin lac meaning milk combined with the Latin suffix -osus, ultimately derived from Proto-Italic -owonssos.

lactose (English): The disaccharide sugar of milk and dairy...

Definitions

  1. The disaccharide sugar of milk and dairy...

Ancestry of “lactose”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchlactoselactose
2French-ose-osis, a functional disease or condition; -ose, a...
3Ancient Greek-ωσιςabnormal condition or state; state, abnormal...
4Ancient Greek-σῐς"suffix forming nouns"
5Ancient Greek-τιςEarlier form of -σις , retained after dentals δ,...
6Proto-Indo-European-tisDerives abstract/action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “lactose”

  • allolactose
  • lactosuria
  • lactard
  • ラクトース
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tis →