Hydrolysis is defined as a chemical reaction where something reacts with water and is changed into a new substance.
An example of hydrolysis is the change of a starch into glucose.
a chemical reaction in which a substance reacts with water so as to be changed into one or more other substances, as a starch into glucose, natural fats into glycerol and fatty acids, or a salt into a weak acid or a weak base
Origin of hydrolysishydro- + -lysis
The reaction of water with another chemical compound to form two or more products, involving ionization of the water molecule and usually splitting the other compound. Examples include the catalytic conversion of starch to glucose, saponification, and the formation of acids or bases from dissolved ions.
- (chemistry) A chemical process of decomposition involving the splitting of a bond and the addition of the hydrogen cation and the hydroxide anion of water.
- (biochemistry) The degradation of certain biopolymers (proteins, complex sugars) by the chemical process that results in smaller polymers or monomers (such as amino acids or monosaccharides)
From hydro- + -lysis.