heliotrope
/ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/
"heliotrope" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“heliotrope” is uncommon English (frequency #98,214 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #98,214
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | heliotrope |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #98,214 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “heliotrope” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
heliotrope is uncommon English at frequency #98,214 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for heliotrope in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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, … The correct English form is heliotrope, spelled H-E-L-I-O-T-R-O-P-E.
Definition
- 1A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
- 2A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
- 3A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
- 4The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.
- 5A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
- 6An 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).
- 7An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
- 8Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”).
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). 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.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "heliotrope"?
What does "heliotrope" mean?
How do you pronounce "heliotrope"?
What is the origin of the word "heliotrope"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “heliotrope”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-E-L-I-O-T-R-O-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.