Wiktionary

heroin

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 (in Czech)
  • “heroin”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 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
  • IPA(key): /ˈheroi̯n/, [ˈhe̞ro̞i̯n]
  • Rhymes: -eroin
  • Syllabification(key): he‧roin

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
 
Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from German Heroin. Attested since 1898.

Noun

edit

heroin n

  1. heroin
    Min granne är beroende av heroin
    My neighbor is addicted to heroin

Declension

edit
Declension of heroin
nominative genitive
singular indefinite heroin heroins
definite heroinet heroinets
plural indefinite — —
definite — —
edit

Synonyms (slang)

edit

References

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=heroin&oldid=82511341"