tropism
trop·i·sm/ˈtɹoʊˌpɪzəm/noun
tropism is spelled T-R-O-P-I-S-M: 7 letters and 3 syllables (trop·i·sm). It appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 146,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tropism means “The turning of an organism (chiefly a plant) or part of an organism either towards or away from a stimulus; (countable) an instance of this” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tropism is tropisms.
How many letters and syllables are in tropism?
| Letters | 7: T-R-O-P-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: trop·i·sm |
| In writing | about once in every 23 million words; the 146,811th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is tropism?
Tropism appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 146,811th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce tropism?
- UK /ˈtɹəʊpɪz(ə)m/
- US /ˈtɹoʊˌpɪzəm/
Tropism has 3 syllables, split trop·i·sm in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tropism.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Moire9-tropism.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of tropism
- tropisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tropism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The turning of an organism (chiefly a plant) or part of an organism either towards or away from a stimulus; (countable) an instance of this.
- 2
A capability or tendency for a pathogen (chiefly a virus) to infect a type of cell, tissue, organ, or host organism.
host tropism tissue tropism
- 3
Of a person: an instinctive predilection or tendency; also (generally), a liking, a preference.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tropism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense turning of an organism or part of an organism either towards or away from a stim:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does tropism come from?
From -tropism (suffix meaning ‘growth towards; movement, turning’) (possibly based on geotropism and heliotropism), from Latin tropus + English -ism (suffix forming nouns of action, process, or result). Tropus is derived from Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “a turn; a manner, style, way; figure of speech, trope; etc.”), from τρέπω (trépō, “to turn; to divert; to rotate or change orientation”) (from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns of result or abstract nouns of action).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).