Carbohydrases

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of carbohydrates into simple sugars
2. a biological catalyst that plays a key role in the digestion and metabolism of carbohydrates
3. a protein present in various organisms that facilitates the breakdown of starches and sugars into more absorbable forms

Etymology: Carbohydrases belong to a family of enzymes named by a simple, systematic method: take the substance an enzyme acts on and add the suffix "-ase." Here the substance is carbohydrate, the term for sugars and starches, so a carbohydrase is an enzyme that breaks carbohydrates apart. The suffix "-ase" was standardised in the late 19th century, when the German chemist Eduard Buchner's work on fermentation and the broader study of enzymes led scientists to name new catalysts after their targets, so "diastase" (the starch-digesting enzyme found in malt) gave the pattern. That is why "-ase" names now cover thousands of enzymes. The word itself is a modern technical coinage built from English parts rather than an ancient or borrowed term. "Carbohydrate" was introduced into English in the 1800s from German "Kohlenhydrat", a compound of "Kohle" (carbon) and "Hydrat" (hydrate), and "carbohydrase" followed as a derivative of that chemical vocabulary. Its use reflects the same drive to classify biological processes precisely that produced the names of the enzymes themselves.