heliotrope
Part of speech: noun
adj
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: biology
botany
chemistry
geography
geology
mineralogy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
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.
Inflected forms:
form: heliotropes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more heliotrope
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most heliotrope
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
pos: noun
tags: also
countable
figuratively
examples: In the Opale, there be obſerved alſo divers blemiſhes and imperfections as vvell as in other ſtones; namely, if the colour reſemble the floure of that hearbe vvhich is called Heliotropium, id eſt, Turneſole:[…]
Lac[o]. Theſe forked tricks, I vnderſtand 'hem not. / VVould he vvould tell vs vvhome he loues, or hates, / That vve might follovv, vvithout feare, or doubt. / Arr[untius]. Good Heliotrope! Is this your honeſt man? / Let him be yours ſo ſtill. He is my knaue.
AGRYPNIA, or Vigilance, […] her chaplet of Heliotropium, or turneſole; in her one hand a lampe, or creſſet, in her other a bell. The lampe ſignified ſearch and ſight, the bell vvarning. The Heliotropium care; and reſpecting her obiect.
Cordials. […] Flovvers of Heliotrope, […]
Flovvers in Prime, or yet laſting. […] Star-vvort, Heliotrop, French Mary-gold, […]
[S]till as on the night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within his scuttle; his hid, heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on its dial; sat due eastward for the earliest sun.
gloss: A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
pos: noun
tags: also
countable
figuratively
specifically
uncountable
examples: As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognised in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.
Here's newyearspray, the posquiflor, a windaborne and heliotrope; there miriamsweet and amaranth and marygold to crown.
gloss: A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
pos: noun
tags: also
countable
figuratively
uncountable
gloss: The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: He had lost his affable smile, and wore a look of almost military resolution; […] he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.
Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. He pressed it to his face. It was racy and insolent with heliotrope; he hurled it to the floor.
gloss: A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Kit woke to see looming over him the face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green, a gift from one of the patients, […]
gloss: 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).
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
pos: noun
tags: countable
historical
gloss: Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The pretious ſtone Heliotropium, is found in Æthiopia, Affricke, and Cyprus: the ground thereof is a deepe greene in manner of a leeke, but the ſame is garniſhed vvith veins of bloud: the reaſon of the name Heliotropium is this, For that if it be throvvne into a paile of vvater, it chaungeth the raies of the Sun by vvay of reverberation into a bloudie colour, eſpecially that vvhich commeth out of Æthiopia: the ſame beeing vvithout the vvater, doth repreſent the bodie of the Sun, like unto a mirroir:[…]
Amid this dread exuberance of woe / Ran naked spirits wing'd with horrid fear, / Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide, / Or heliotrope to charm them out of view.
gloss: Of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
pos: adj
examples: "Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?" / "That's right, Mr. Bennett," agreed old Goslin. / "It's the Babe himself!" asserted Harry Bennett.
There was a ten-mile stretch of level ground, blown hard as rock, from which the sustenance had been bleached, for not a spear of grass grew there. And following that was a tortuous passage through a weird region of clay dunes, blue and violet and heliotrope and lavender, all worn smooth by rain and wind.
Related words: heliotropian
heliotropic
heliotropism
heliotropy
sunward
Derived words: blue heliotrope
clasping heliotrope
common heliotrope
European heliotrope
false heliotrope
garden heliotrope
helio
heliotroper
heliotropian
heliotropin
Indian heliotrope
summer heliotrope
winter heliotrope
Translations:
lang: Albanian
word: dielldridhës
lang: Catalan
word: heliotropi
lang: Finnish
word: heliotrooppi
lang: Greek
word: ηλιοτρόπιο
roman: iliotrópio
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ἡλιοτρόπιον
roman: hēliotrópion
lang: Irish
word: plúr na gréine
lang: Latin
word: hēliotropium
lang: Polish
word: heliotrop
lang: Portuguese
word: heliotrópio
lang: Arabic
word: رَقِيب الشَّمْسِ
roman: raqīb aš-šamsi
lang: Arabic
word: غُبَيْرَاء
roman: ḡubayrāʔ
lang: Armenian
word: արևադարձ
roman: arewadarj
lang: Bulgarian
word: подсу́нка
roman: podsúnka
lang: Chinese Cantonese
word: 天芥菜
roman: tin¹ gaai³ coi³
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 天芥菜
roman: tiānjiècài
lang: Danish
word: heliotrop
lang: Dutch
word: heliotroop
lang: Esperanto
word: heliotropo
lang: Finnish
word: heliotrooppi
lang: French
word: héliotrope
lang: Georgian
word: ჰელიოტროპი
roman: helioṭroṗi
lang: German
word: Sonnenwende
lang: Greek
word: ηλιοτρόπιο
roman: iliotrópio
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ἡλῐοτρόπῐον
roman: hēlĭotrópĭon
lang: Hebrew
word: עֹקֶץ־עַקְרָב
roman: ókets-akráv
lang: Hungarian
word: kunkor
lang: Ido
word: heliotropo
lang: Irish
word: plúr na gréine
lang: Italian
word: eliotropio
lang: Japanese
word: ヘリオトロープ
roman: heriotorōbu
lang: Korean
word: 해꽃
roman: haekkot
lang: Kyrgyz
word: гелиотроп
roman: geliotrop
lang: Latin
word: hēliotropium
lang: Latvian
word: heliotrops
lang: Lithuanian
word: heliotropas
lang: Persian
word: آفتابپرست
roman: âftâb-parast
lang: Polish
word: heliotrop
lang: Polish
word: tomiłek
lang: Portuguese
word: heliotropo
lang: Romanian
word: heliotrop
lang: Russian
word: гелиотро́п
roman: geliotróp
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: bradavka
lang: Upper Sorbian
word: wobrotnička
lang: Spanish
word: heliotropo
lang: Swedish
word: heliotrop
lang: Danish
word: heliotrop
lang: Esperanto
word: heliotropo
lang: Estonian
word: harilik heliotroop
lang: Finnish
word: tuoksuheliotrooppi
lang: Georgian
word: ჰელიოტროპი
roman: helioṭroṗi
lang: German
word: Heliotrop
lang: German
word: Sonnenwende
lang: German
word: Vanilleblume
lang: Greek
word: ηλιοτρόπιο
roman: iliotrópio
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ἡλιοτρόπιον
roman: hēliotrópion
lang: Italian
word: eliotropo
lang: Japanese
word: ヘリオトロープ
roman: heriotorōpu
lang: Latin
word: solago
lang: Persian
word: روزگردک
roman: ruzgardak
lang: Polish
word: heliotrop peruwiański
lang: Polish
word: tomiłek peruwiański
lang: Portuguese
word: heliotrópio
lang: Portuguese
word: heliotropo
lang: Russian
word: гелиотро́п
roman: geliotróp
lang: Russian
word: солнцеворо́т
roman: solncevorót
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: су̀нчац
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: sùnčac
lang: Swedish
word: heliotrop
lang: Vietnamese
word: vòi voi vani
lang: Welsh
word: heliotrop
lang: Welsh
word: heuldro