-trope

n combining form

(Biology) indicating a turning towards, development in the direction of, or affinity to: heliotrope.

[from Greek tropos a turn]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

trope

(troʊp)

n.

a. any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.

b. an instance of this.

2. a phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish.

[1525–35; < Latin tropus figure in rhetoric < Greek trópos turn, turn or figure of speech, akin to trépein to turn]

-trope

a combining form meaning “one turned toward” that specified by the initial element (heliotrope); also occurring in concrete nouns that correspond to abstract nouns ending in -tropy or -tropism: allotrope.