The root term [-troph-] arises from the Greek [τροφή] (trophi), meaning “food”, to feed”, or “growth”. The addition of the suffix [-y], meaning “process of” allows us to form the following medical terms:

• Hypertrophy: The prefix [hyper-] means “excessive”. Excessive growth
• Dystrophy: The prefix [dys-] means “abnormal”. Abnormal growth
• Eutrophy: The prefix [eu-] means “good” or “well”. Good growth, referring to normal growth
• Atrophy: The prefix [–a] means “absence” or “without”. Absence of growth

The addition of other suffixes such as [-ic] gives us descriptive or adjectival forms of the same root: Hypertrophic, dystrophic, eutrophic, and atrophic.