Main Entry: ¹trop·ic

Pronunciation: \ˈträ-pik\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English tropik, from Latin tropicus of the solstice, from Greek tropikos, from tropē turn

Date: 1527

1 : either of the two parallels of terrestrial latitude at a distance of about 23¹⁄₂ degrees north or south of the equator where the sun is directly overhead when it reaches its most northerly or southerly point in the sky — compare tropic of cancer, tropic of capricorn
2 plural often capitalized : the region lying between the tropics