heliotrope
/ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/
heliotrope means of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers. It carries an Arena rating of 1743, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, heliotrope ranks #61 of 17,132 for Most Beautiful Words, #117 of 42,820 for Qualifying, #604 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #897 of 17,128 for Most Vivid Words.
heliotrope is pronounced /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/.
Why “heliotrope” is a great word
Heliotrope is a light purple color with violet undertones, or the fragrant plant whose small flowers were once thought to follow the sun. From French héliotrope, from Latin hēliotropium ("plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone"), from Ancient Greek ἡλιοτρόπιον (hēliotrópion), from ἥλιος (hḗlios, "the sun") + τρόπος (trópos, "a turn"), first attested in English in the 1620s. Unlike "lilac," a cooler, paler purple from a different shrub, or "sunflower," a specific genus of bold, solar-tracking blooms, heliotrope evokes a subtler, more fragrant allegiance. It is the color of a fading bruise at dusk, the heady scent of a Victorian handkerchief sachet, and the quiet, perhaps imagined, rotation of velvety florets on a heavy summer afternoon—a testament to the human desire to see even flowers in a state of quiet worship.
Etymology
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
adj
- Of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.e.g.“"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.” — 1904, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, “Story the Sixth: ‘The Babe’ Applies for Shares”, in Tommy and Co., 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: Langton and Hall, →OCLC, page 232:
noun
- A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
- A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.; A plant of the genus Heliotropium, especially a common heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens), which has clusters of purple flowers with a strong fragrance.e.g.“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.” — 1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XXIX, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 326:
- A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.; With a qualifying word: any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium.
- The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.e.g.“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.” — 1881, Henry James, Jr., chapter XLIII, in The Portrait of a Lady, New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 381:
- A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
- 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).
- An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
- Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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