What does "sorbitol" mean?

A faintly sweet alcohol C₆H₁₄O₆ that occurs in some fruits, is made synthetically, and is used especially as a humectant and softener and in making ascorbic acid.

What is a synonym for "sorbitol"?

Common synonyms include: e420, e420, sorbierite.

How do you pronounce "sorbitol"?

Pronounced //ˈsɔː.bɪ.tɒl//.

Sorbitol

//ˈsɔː.bɪ.tɒl// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A faintly sweet alcohol C₆H₁₄O₆ that occurs in some fruits, is made synthetically, and is used especially as a humectant and softener and in making ascorbic acid. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

e420 e420 sorbierite

Etymology

From earlier sorbite (from sorb + -ite) + -ol. By surface analysis, sorb + -itol.

Related phrases

sugar alcohol

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.