heroin

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See also: Heroin, heróín, and hê-rô-in

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Since the 1890s, from German Heroin, originally a trademark, from Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”) and the suffix -in (“-ine”). Said to have been called thus to evoke quick and sweeping effect as a painkiller and cough suppressant (its original uses). Alternatively explained as a reference to the heroic school of medicine.[1]

Noun[edit]

heroin (countable and uncountable, plural heroins)

  1. A powerful and addictive drug derived from opium producing intense euphoria, classed as an illegal narcotic in most of the world. [from late 19th century]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:heroin
    • 1967, “Heroin”, in Lou Reed (music), The Velvet Underground & Nico, performed by The Velvet Underground:
      Wow, that heroin is in my blood / And the blood is in my head / Yeah, thank God that I'm good as dead / Ooohhh, thank your God that I'm not aware / And thank God that I just don't care / And I guess I just don't know
    • 1972, “King Heroin”, in Manny Rosen (lyrics), There It Is, performed by James Brown:
      I saw a real strange, weird object / Standing up talking to the people / And I found out it was heroin / That deadly drug that go in your veins
    • 2009: Stuart Heritage, Hecklerspray, Friday the 22nd of May in 2009 at 1 o’clock p.m., “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”
      The reason why Jon & Kate Plus 8 is such a hot topic is because it might all be a sham. It’s been claimed that Jon has a string of mistresses, that Kate had an affair with her bodyguard and that Baby Number Six is actually a shaved Ewok with a catastrophic heroin addiction. Or something.
    • 2016, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Opiods”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 27, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:
      Yeah, it does, though, it does. Heroin works basically everywhere because it’s heroin. It’s not a cellphone. Heroin has full coverage.
    • 2017, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Confederacy”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 26, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:
      Okay, wel-, I’ll tell you where it stops: somewhere! Anytime someone asks, “Where does it stop?”, the answer is always fucking somewhere! You might let your kid have Twizzlers, but not inject black tar heroin! You d-You don’t just go, “Well, after the Twizzlers, where does it stop?”!
    • 2019 January 21, Alex Hern, “‘Heroin for middle-class nerds’: how Warhammer conquered gaming”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      That’s because the second thing to know about Games Workshop is, as Gillen says, that Warhammer was what middle-class nerds did instead of heroin. It was just as expensive, and probably no better for your social life.
      (Can we archive this URL?)
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Marcus Aurin (2000 September) “Chasing the Dragon: The Cultural Metamorphosis of Opium in the United States, 1825-1935”, in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, volume 14, number 3, →DOI, pages 414-441

Further reading[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

heroin (plural heroins)

  1. Obsolete form of heroine.
    • 1710, Eginardus [pseudonym; Delarivier Manley], Memoirs of Europe, Towards the Close of the Eighth Century. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], pages 276–277:
      Strictly Orthodox, Porcia has bent her Fortune and Applications to the Advantage of the true Religion. In a word, no Perfection is feeble, or ſhines dim in Porcia; all is ſtrenuous, bright, confirm’d, and unexceptionable. She only is worthy to ſupply the Loſs of Ximena, in ſo great a Breaſt as Horatio’s, were Fortune to do what Merit has done, wou’d ſhe not make the Union? Where more juſtly cou’d we beſtow the Charms of a Heroin, who has done all things for Vertue and Honour, than in the Arms of a Hero, who has left nothing undone for Fame and Glory?

Anagrams[edit]

Czech[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

heroin m inan

  1. heroin
    Synonym: herák

Declension[edit]

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading[edit]

  • heroin in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
  • heroin in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish[edit]

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

heroin c or n (singular definite heroinen or heroinet, uncountable)

  1. heroin

Finnish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

heroin

  1. instructive plural of hera

Anagrams[edit]

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

heroin

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ヘロイン

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /xerǒiːn/
  • Hyphenation: he‧ro‧in

Noun[edit]

heròīn m (Cyrillic spelling херо̀ӣн)

  1. heroin

Declension[edit]

Declension of heroin
singular
nominative heròīn
genitive heroína
dative heroinu
accusative heroin
vocative heroine
locative heroinu
instrumental heroinom

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from German Heroin. Attested since 1898.

Noun[edit]

heroin n

  1. heroin

Declension[edit]

Declension of heroin 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative heroin heroinet — —
Genitive heroins heroinets — —

Related terms[edit]

Synonyms (slang)[edit]

References[edit]

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