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HELIOTROPE
Definition of HELIOTROPE
noun
A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as marigolds and sunflowers.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
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.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,608)
How it is built
Same root, HELIOTROPE · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Middle English, Old English.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HELIOTROPE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 38 boards so far. 158 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 36, 25 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 144, 11 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 36, 25 June 2026.
Built from these letters
HELIOTROPE starts with H and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EEHILOOPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E and O appear more than once.
Words that start HELIOT
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 36
Could you have found HELIOTROPE?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 36 - and most players walked straight past it.
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