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Webster 1913 Edition

Adj.

[Gr. [GREEK] nursing. See

(Physiol.)

Of or connected with nutrition; nitritional; nourishing;

as, the so-called

trophic

nerves, which have a direct influence on nutrition

See also: -trophic

trophic ‎(not comparable)

Of or pertaining to nutrition
(ecology) Describing the relationships between the feeding habits of organisms in a food chain
(physiology) Of or pertaining to growth

In physiological sense, not to be confused with similar-sounding tropic – the words and concepts are unrelated.^[1]

↑ “Trophic vs. Tropic”, Werner Steinberg, JAMA, May 3, 1952, 149(1), p. 82, doi:10.1001/jama.1952.02930180084027.