trophy

¹

[ troh-fee ]

noun

, plural tro·phies.

1. anything taken in war, hunting, competition, etc., especially when preserved as a memento; spoil, prize, or award.
2. anything serving as a token or evidence of victory, valor, skill, etc.:

   a sports trophy.

3. a symbol of success that is used to impress others:

   He bought the lavish home as a trophy.

4. a carving, painting, or other representation of objects associated with or symbolic of victory or achievement.
5. any memento or memorial.
6. a memorial erected by certain ancient peoples, especially the Greeks and Romans, in commemoration of a victory in war and consisting of arms or other spoils taken from the enemy and hung upon a tree, pillar, or the like.

adjective

1. noting or relating to a symbol of success that is used to impress others:

   They just want a near-perfect trophy child to brag about.

-trophy

²

1. a combining form used in the formation of nouns with the general senses “nourishment, feeding” ( mycotrophy ), “growth” ( hypertrophy ); also forming abstract nouns corresponding to adjectives ending in -trophic.

-trophy

¹

combining form

1. indicating a certain type of nourishment or growth

   dystrophy

trophy

²

/ ˈtrəʊfɪ /

noun

1. an object such as a silver or gold cup that is symbolic of victory in a contest, esp a sporting contest; prize
2. a memento of success, esp one taken in war or hunting
3. in ancient Greece and Rome
   1. a memorial to a victory, usually consisting of captured arms raised on the battlefield or in a public place
   2. a representation of such a memorial
4. an ornamental carving that represents a group of weapons, etc
5. informal.
   modifier highly desirable and regarded as a symbol of wealth or success

   a trophy wife

Derived Forms

• -trophic, combining_form:in_adjective

Other Words From

• trophy·less adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of trophy¹

1505–15; earlier trophe < French trophée < Latin trop ( h ) aeum < Greek trópaion, noun use of neuter of trópaios, Attic variant of tropaîos of turning or putting to flight, equivalent to trop ( ḗ ) a turning (akin to trépein to turn) + -aios adj. suffix. See trope

Origin of trophy²

< Greek -trophia nutrition, equivalent to troph ( ḗ ) food + -ia -y ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of trophy¹

from Greek -trophia , from trophē nourishment

Origin of trophy²

C16: from French trophée , from Latin tropaeum , from Greek tropaion , from tropē a turning, defeat of the enemy; related to Greek trepein to turn

Example Sentences

“Right now my focus is to get healthy, come back stronger, get on the mound and show everybody what I can do,” Ohtani said, after laughing off a question about whether he hopes to add a Cy Young Award to his trophy case in 2025.

From Los Angeles Times

Rodri will always be a fan favourite at City after scoring the goal that secured their first Champions League trophy and becoming their maiden Ballon d'Or winner.

From BBC

Ohio State’s first 2,000-yard rusher, Dobbins finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2019.

From Los Angeles Times

Also: That cast will carry it a long way — certainly to a trophy for international feature.

From Los Angeles Times

After moving to Manchester from Bayern in 2016, Guardiola went without a trophy in a season for the first time in his career.

From BBC

Related Words

• citation
• crown
• cup
• decoration
• gold
• keepsake
• medal
• memento
• prize
• souvenir

Words That Use -trophy

What does -trophy mean?

The combining form -trophy is used like a suffix variously meaning “nourishment, feeding, growth.” It is also used to form nouns corresponding to adjectives ending in -trophic. The combining -trophy is often used in medical and scientific terms.

The form -trophy comes from the Greek trophḗ, meaning “nourishment,” “food.”

You may be familiar with terms like atrophy (equivalent to the Greek átrophos) from the Greek and dystrophy (from the New Latin dystrophia). Find out how these relate to -trophy and “nourishment” at our entries for these words.

Corresponding forms of –trophy combined to the beginning of words are tropho- and troph-. Another form closely related to -trophy is -troph.

Examples of -trophy

One example of a word that uses the form -trophy is hypotrophy. Hypotrophy is “progressive degeneration of an organ or tissue caused by loss of cells.”

The first part of the word is hypo-, which you might recognize from words like hypodermic. It means “under.” And as we’ve seen, -trophy means “nourishment.” Hypotrophy, then, has a literal sense of “being under-nourished.”

What are some words that use the combining form –trophy?

• abiotrophy
• lipotrophy
• hypertrophy
• metratrophy
• myotrophy
• neurotrophy

What are some other forms that -trophy may be commonly confused with?

• trop-
• tropo-

The word trophy, as you might get for winning a competition, doesn’t share the same root as -trophy despite having the same letters. The prized trophy is actually related to the combining forms tropo- and trop- as well the word trope. Learn more at our entries for the words.

Break it down!

The combining form myo- means “muscle.” With this in mind, myotrophy involves nourishment of what parts of the body?