Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

heliotrope

/ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.97 in modern English

Syllables
he-li-o-trope
IPA
/ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/
15
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.

Countable

noun

A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.

Uncountable

noun

A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.

Uncountable

noun

An instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight for purposes such as signalling, or (surveying) triangulation (where the reflected light is detected by another surveyor positioned some distance away).

Countable

noun

An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.

Countable

noun

Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”).

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

Etymology

PIE word *sóh₂wl̥ The noun is borrowed from French héliotrope, from Latin hēliotropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”), from Ancient Greek ἡλῐοτρόπῐον (hēlĭotrópĭon, “European heliotrope (Heliotropium europaeum); bloodstone; solar clock, sundial”), from ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“the sun”)) + τρόπος (trópos, “a turn”) (from τρέπω (trépō, “to rotate; to turn”) (from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns from verbs)) + -ῐον (-ĭon, diminutive suffix forming nouns). By surface analysis, helio- + -trope. The French-derived spelling displaced Middle English elitrope, eliotropius, elitropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”) [and other forms], from Old English eliotropus, from Latin hēliotropium (see above); and Old English siġelhweorfa, sōlsece, and sunnfolgend (“heliotrope flower”). Noun sense 6 (“synonym of bloodstone”) is from the fact that a piece of the mineral placed in water is said to change the sun’s rays to a blood-red colour: see the 1601 quotation. The adjective is probably derived from the noun.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *trep-, héliotrope, hēliotropium, ἡλῐοτρόπῐον, *sóh₂wl̥

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/
  • British English: /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/

Usage

Inflected Forms

heliotropes (plural) more heliotrope (comparative) most heliotrope (superlative)

Derived Forms

helio heliotroper heliotropian heliotropin

Phrases

blue heliotrope clasping heliotrope common heliotrope European heliotrope false heliotrope garden heliotrope Indian heliotrope summer heliotrope

Frequently Paired Words

heliotropian heliotropic heliotropism heliotropy sunward

Synonyms

heliotropian turnsole cherry pie garden heliotrope sematrope helio bloodstone

Questions

How do you pronounce heliotrope?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/.
What does heliotrope mean?
A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
Where does heliotrope come from?
It is traced to French.

How to pronounce heliotrope

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “heliotrope”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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