Cardiotrophic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to an agent or factor that nourishes, supports, or stimulates growth and health of the heart muscle
2. Describing a substance or influence that encourages the development and maintenance of cardiac tissue
3. Having the capacity to foster the nutrition and well-being of the heart and its muscular structure

Etymology: "Cardiotrophic" is a misspelling of "cardiotropic", and the spelling matters here because the two words are not related in meaning. The intended form is built from "cardio-", from Greek "kardia" meaning "heart", joined to "-tropic", from Greek "tropos" meaning "turning" or "direction". A cardiotropic substance is one that has a special affinity for heart tissue, acting on the heart in particular. The misspelled form looks as if it should mean "nourishing the heart", since "-trophic" comes from Greek "trophe", meaning "nourishment", as in "atrophic" or "hypertrophic". That reading is a plausible guess but not the word's actual sense. The two suffixes sound similar and are easily confused, which is the likely source of the error.