Help understanding the word 'glycosaminoglycan'? In my biochemistry course I have to know about various polysaccharides and variants, and I am struggling with remembering them. I think it would help if I could break down their names. For 'glycosaminoglycan' i think -glycan just refers to the fact that it is a polysaccharide. Some, but not all polysaccharides have glycan in their name, e.g. glycogen vs amylase and amylopectin -amino means there is an amino group somewhere in there? That's all I can think of...

Glycosamines (or amino-sugars) are monosaccharide derivatives with an amino group substituting the hydroxyl group at second carbon. Glycosaminoglycans (GAG) usually contain repeats of a disaccharide unit one of the component of which is an amino sugar. GAGs are not strictly polymers of amino sugar monomers as the name might misleadingly suggest.