# heliotrope

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/ · frequency rank #98,214

## Definitions
1. A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
2. A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
3. A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
4. The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.
5. A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
6. 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).
7. An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
8. Synonym 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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/heliotrope