Main Entry: at·ro·phy

Pronunciation: \ˈa-trə-fē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural at·ro·phies

Etymology: Late Latin atrophia, from Greek, from atrophos ill fed, from a- + trephein to nourish

Date: 1601

1 : decrease in size or wasting away of a body part or tissue; also : arrested development or loss of a part or organ incidental to the normal development or life of an animal or plant
2 : a wasting away or progressive decline <was not a solitude of atrophy, of negation, but of perpetual flowering — Willa Cather>

— atro·phic \(ˌ)ā-ˈtrō-fik\ adjective

— atrophy \ˈa-trə-fē, -ˌfī\ verb