heroin
/ˈhɛɹoʊ.ɪn//hɛəɹoʊ.ɪn/
heroin noun: a powerful and addictive drug derived from opium producing intense euphoria, classed as an illegal narcotic in most of the world. Also the obsolete spelling of heroine.
Noun
heroin (countable and uncountable, plural heroins)
- A powerful and addictive drug derived from opium producing intense euphoria, classed as an illegal narcotic in most of the world.
- 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 know1967, “Heroin”, in Lou Reed (music), The Velvet Underground & Nico, performed by The Velvet Underground
- 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 veins1972, “King Heroin”, in Manny Rosen (lyrics), There It Is, performed by James Brown
- Synonyms:
- diamorphine, diacetylmorphine, smack, Big H, boy, brown, bujj, dope, junk, H
Also used as
heroin is also the obsolete spelling of heroine.
heroin meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
heroin in Hindi
- powerful and addictive drug
- हेरोइन heroin
heroin in Tamil
- ஹெராயின், ஹெரோயின், ஹெரொயின்
heroin in Marathi
- powerful and addictive drug
- हेरोइन heroin
heroin in Urdu
- powerful and addictive drug
- ہیروئین heroīn
More languagesFewer languages
- heroin in Bengali
- হেরোইন, হেরোইনের
- heroin in Telugu
- హెరాయిన్, హెరోయిన్, హెరొయిన్
- heroin in Malayalam
- ഹെറോയിൻ, ഹെറോയ്ൻ
- heroin in Kannada
- ಹೆರಾಯಿನ್, ಹೆರೋಯಿನ್, ಹೆರೊಯಿನ್
- heroin in Punjabi
- ਹੇਰੋਇਨ, ਹੇਰੋਈਨ, ਹੈਰੋਇਨ
- heroin in Gujarati
- હેરોઇન, હેરોઈન
- heroin in Odia
- ହେରୋଇନ୍, ହେରୋଇନ
- heroin in Nepali
- हेरोइन, हेरोईन
- heroin in Arabic
- هِيرُويْن hiruyn
- heroin in Persian
- هروئین hero'in
- heroin in Thai
- เฮโรอีน hay-roh-een
- heroin in Vietnamese
- bạch phiến
Examples of heroin in a sentence
- 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.2009 May 22, Stuart Heritage, “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”, in Hecklerspray, archived from the...
- Fentanyl, which looks like heroin, is a powerful synthetic painkiller that has been laced into heroin but is increasingly being sold by itself — often without the user’s knowledge.2016 March 25, Katharine Q. Seelye, “Heroin Epidemic Is Yielding to a Deadlier Cousin: Fentanyl”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived...
- Heroin works basically everywhere because it’s heroin.2016, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Opiods”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 27, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros....
- You might let your kid have Twizzlers, but not inject black tar heroin!2017, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Confederacy”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 26, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros....
Synonyms of heroin
17 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of heroin
| plural | heroins |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | heroine |
Origin of heroin
Since the 1890s, by genericization 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.
Words formed from heroin
Phrases with heroin
Questions about heroin
- What does heroin mean?
- Heroin means a powerful and addictive drug derived from opium producing intense euphoria, classed as an illegal narcotic in most of the world.
- What is heroin in Hindi?
- Heroin in Hindi is हेरोइन (heroin). See Heroin meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use heroin in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is heroin?
- Heroin is a noun.
- How do you pronounce heroin?
- Heroin is pronounced /ˈhɛɹoʊ.ɪn/.
- What is the plural of heroin?
- The plural of heroin is heroins.
Words near heroin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heroin (page history and authors); heroin (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroin (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-heroin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “heroin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heroin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.