Tropical fruit left worker in suffering (8)
I believe the answer is:
plantain
'tropical fruit' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'left worker in suffering' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'worker' becomes 'ant' (worker is a type of ant).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'suffering' becomes 'pain' (suffering is pain).
'l'+'ant'='lant'
'lant' placed within 'pain' is 'PLANTAIN'.
(Other definitions for plantain that I've seen before include "Sort of banana" , "Large banana - weed" , "Shrub; green banana" , "Banana-like fruit" , "Pal at inn (anag)" .)