subtropical

Etymology

It is formed from English sub- + tropical,^[2][3][4][5] perhaps after German subtropisch or scientific Latin subtropicus.^[2] Merriam-Webster treats it as a word of the International Scientific Vocabulary, from sub- and tropical or tropic.^[6][7] Tropical is formed from tropic and -al;^[3] tropic came through Late Latin tropicus from Ancient Greek τροπικός (tropikós, “of the turning; of the solstice”), from τροπή (tropḗ, “turn, turning”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bordering on the tropics, between the tropics and the temperate zones: 1829, in A. Ure's New System of Geology.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also dates it to 1829,^[6] and Etymonline to 1830, of climate and natural life between tropical and temperate.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Also from 1829, in J. F. Stephens's Illustrations of British Entomology, the word meant characteristic of or native to the subtropics, and also almost or intermittently tropical.^[2] Etymonline dates the more general sense "bordering on the tropics" to 1865 and the noun subtropic to 1886.^[3] Of plants it means needing the climate of subtropical regions to survive, and as a noun it names such a plant.^[6]

Timeline

• 1829 – bordering on the tropics; also characteristic of or native to the subtropics.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lying next to the tropics, between the tropical and the temperate zones: the subtropical coast of the Gulf.^[9][6][2]
2. Of, relating to, or typical of the subtropics; nearly tropical: a subtropical summer.^[9][6][2]
3. Of a plant, needing the climate of subtropical regions to survive.^[6]

Noun

1. A plant that needs a subtropical environment to thrive.^[6]

Related words

• subtropics
• tropical
• tropic

Usage notes

Collins also records the shorter adjective subtropic.^[9] The first edition of the OED (1915) marked the stress on the first syllable, sub-tropical.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins