heroine
/ˈhɪɹoʊɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.53 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
adj
Characteristic of a heroine; heroic.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "'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?'"
- "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 heroine reſolution ſhe ſhewed them by hir owne example, that what ſhee had taught them, was eaſie to be done."
- "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."
- "WE Your Majesties most Loyal and Dutiful Subjects do humbly crave Leave to Condole the Death of our late Gracious Sovereign, and to Congratulate Your Majesties happy Accession to the Throne of your Royal Anceſtors; as alſo to expreſs our great Satisfaction and unſpeakable Joy for the ſame, and to thank God for preſerving and quietly ſeating on the Imperial Throne of theſe Realms a Princeſs with Heart and Affections truly Engliſh, with a Zeal for the Government in Church and State as by Law Establiſhed, truly worthy of that Royal Blood that flows to you from your Royal Grandfather King Charles the Martyr, of Immortal Memory, and with a Soul truly Great and Heroine, juſtly concerned for the Proſperity of theſe Realms, and the Peace of Europe."
- "I had once more prevailed on Mrs. Eſten to try her York friends; ſhe rather wiſhed to avoid the hazard, as ſhe rightly judged ſhe had been treated ſo very negligently, after a profuſion of praiſe and promiſe; however from my ſolicitation ſhe did break through her heroine reſolution, and once more on her return from Scotland ventured her little bark to the generoſity and pleaſure of her profeſſed friends at York."
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.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhɪɹoʊɪn/
- British English: /ˈhɛɹəʊɪn/