heroin

Since the 1890s, from German Heroin, originally a trademark said to derive from Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”) (due to the feelings of power and exaltation while under the influence of the drug) and the suffix -in (“-ine”). Alternative explained as reference to the heroic school of medicine[1].

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹoʊ.ɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: heroine
• Rhymes: -ɪn

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]
   • 1967, Lou Reed (music), “Heroin”, in 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

   • 2009: Stuart Heritage, Hecklerspray, Friday the 22^nd 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, John Oliver, “Opiods”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 27, written by Tim Carvell; Josh Gondelman; Dan Gurewitch; Jeff Maurer; Ben Silva; Will Tracy; Jill Twiss; Seena Vali; Julie Weiner, HBO, Warner Bros. Television:

     Yeah, it does, though, it does. Heroin works basically everywhere because it’s heroin. It’s not a cellphone. Heroin has full coverage.

   • 2017, John Oliver, “Confederacy”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 26, written by Tim Carvell; Josh Gondelman; Dan Gurewitch; Jeff Maurer; Ben Silva; Will Tracy; Jill Twiss; Seena Vali; Julie Weiner, HBO, Warner Bros. Television:

     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?”!

• (chemical names): diacetylmorphine, diamorphine
• (street names): Big H, boy, brown, dope, junk, H, horse, Ron, shit, skag, smack, train, yam yam
• See also Thesaurus:heroin

• heroin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Horine, hieron, on hire

heroin m

1. heroin

• herák

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

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

1. heroin

• Rhymes: -eroin

heroin

1. Instructive plural form of hera.

heroin

1. Rōmaji transcription of ヘロイン

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

heròīn m (Cyrillic spelling херо̀ӣн)

1. heroin

From German Heroin.

heroin n

1. heroin