Sorbitol
/ˈsɔːr.bɪ.tɒl/noun
A sugar alcohol used as a sweetener and humectant in foods, medicines, and cosmetics.
Did you know?Sorbitol was named for sorbit, the sugar first isolated from the berries of the rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia), so a modern sweetener carries a name rooted in an old tree of charms and protection.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
sorbus
“the service tree or rowan tree”
18th–19th Century
French/Scientific Latin
sorbine / sorbit
“names derived from the rowan tree for the sugar isolated from its fruit”
19th Century
English
sorbitol
“the alcohol form of sorbit, a sugar alcohol”
Modern English
English
sorbitol
“a low-calorie sweetener and pharmaceutical excipient”