heroine
/ˈhɪɹoʊɪn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
South Asia/hiro.ɪn/
heroine noun: a female hero. Also the obsolete spelling of heroin.
Noun
heroine (plural heroines)
- A female hero.
- A female lead character.
- Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition...
- 'I infer that you are the lady of the paragraph,' and the lifted hand indicated the open sheet of the Record lying nearby.
[…]
'Oh,' said Mr Carrados with an amused and deepening interest, 'so in addition to being the heroine of the adventure you wrote it up?'1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
Adjective
heroine (not comparable)
- Characteristic of a heroine; heroic.
- Theoxena to free hir Siſters children and hir owne from the laſciuious embraces of King Phillip, put weapons into their weaker hands, and perſwaded them Vt imminens ludibrium morte effugerent; to reſcue themſelues by Death from imminent diſgrace, wherein ſhe had no ſooner preuailed, but with a...1616, D[aniel] T[uvill], “Of their outward modestie”, in Asylum Veneris, or A Sanctuary for Ladies. Iustly Protecting Them, Their Virtues, and Sufficiencies from the Foule Aspersions and Forged...
- Her Brows ſoft Fur was of a paler Dye, / Conformable to that which prettily / Peep’d on her upper Lip, and cowardly / Made shew of Heroine Virility.1669, [William Wycherley], Hero and Leander, in Burlesque, London: [s.n.], page 13
Also used as
heroine is also the obsolete spelling of heroin.
heroine meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
heroine in Hindi
- female hero
- नायिका nāyikā, हीरोइन hīroin
heroine in Tamil
- கதாநாயகி
heroine in Marathi
- नायिका, नायिकेची
heroine in Urdu
- female hero
- بَطَلَہ batala, نایَکا nāyakā, ہیروئِین heroīn
More languagesFewer languages
- heroine in Bengali
- বীরাঙ্গনা biraṅgona
- heroine in Telugu
- కథానాయిక, హీరోయిన్
- heroine in Malayalam
- നായിക
- heroine in Kannada
- ನಾಯಕಿ, ನಾಯಕಿಯ
- heroine in Punjabi
- ਨਾਇਕਾ, ਹੀਰੋਇਨ
- heroine in Gujarati
- નાયિકા, હિરોઈન, હીરોઇન
- heroine in Odia
- ନାଯ଼ିକା, ହିରୋଇନ
- heroine in Nepali
- नायिका, नायिकाको
- heroine in Pashto
- اتله atëla
- heroine in Arabic
- بَطَلَة baṭala
- heroine in Malay
- wirawati, srikandi
- heroine in Indonesian
- srikandi
- heroine in Thai
- วีรสตรี wii-rá-sà-dtrii
Synonyms of heroine
Forms of heroine
| plural | heroines |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | heroin |
Origin of heroine
From Latin hērōīna, from late Ancient Greek ἡρωΐνη (hērōḯnē) (2nd century), a feminine equivalent of ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero, demigod”), equivalent to hero + -ine (suffix forming feminine nouns). * English from 1587. The sense of "female lead character" is from 1715.
Partly from the noun and partly from hero + -ine (suffix forming adjectives).
Words formed from heroine
Questions about heroine
- What does heroine mean?
- Heroine means a female hero.
- What is heroine in Hindi?
- Heroine in Hindi is नायिका (nāyikā), हीरोइन (hīroin). See Heroine meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is heroine?
- Heroine can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce heroine?
- Heroine is pronounced /ˈhɪɹoʊɪn/ (US).
- What is the plural of heroine?
- The plural of heroine is heroines.
Words near heroine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heroine (page history and authors); heroine (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heroine (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-heroine.ogg.
Cite this entry: “heroine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heroine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.