1892, from German Ribose (1891), from Ribonsäure, a tetrahydroxy acid, with first element shortened and arbitrarily rearranged from English arabinose (c.1880), a sugar which is so called because it is formed from gum arabic.
ribose ri·bose (rī'bōs')
n.
A pentose sugar occurring as a component of riboflavin, nucleotides, and nucleic acids.