Histotrophic describes anything that causes the growth or nourishment of tissue — from the Greek histos (tissue) and trophē (nourishment). In reproductive biology, histotrophic nutrition is the nourishment of the early embryo by secretions of the uterine glands before the placenta takes over — the “utterine milk” that sustains mammalian embryos in their first days. More broadly, the term labels substances or processes that feed tissue growth: histotrophic factors in wound healing, or nutrients described as histotrophic for a particular organ. It belongs to the precise vocabulary of physiology and embryology, where distinguishing how each tissue is nourished — histotrophic versus haemotrophic (via blood) — clarifies the biology of development.