heroine
UK /ˈhɛɹəʊɪn/ · US /ˈhɪɹoʊɪn/ noun, adjective
Also a form of heroin
Forms heroines heroin
- noun A female hero.
- noun A female lead character.
- adjective (rare) Characteristic of a heroine; heroic.
Synonyms
Etymology
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).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A woman of an heroic spirit.
- noun The principal female person who figures in a remarkable action, or as the subject of a poem or story.
Etymology [F. héroïne, L. heroina, Gr. Hero.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “heroine”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details