What do we call a carbohydrate consisting of many monosaccharide units?

A carbohydrate made up of many monosaccharide units is classified as a polysaccharide. Polysaccharides are long chains of monosaccharide units linked together by glycosidic bonds and can consist of hundreds or thousands of these monosaccharides. Common examples include starch, glycogen, and cellulose, which play crucial roles in energy storage and structural support in living organisms.

In contrast, an oligosaccharide contains a relatively small number of monosaccharide units, usually between two to ten, while a disaccharide specifically consists of just two monosaccharides. A monosaccharide, on the other hand, is the simplest form of carbohydrate and cannot be hydrolyzed into smaller carbohydrate units. Thus, polysaccharides are distinct due to their complexity and size, enabling them to perform various biological functions.