heroin
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhɛɹoʊ.ɪn/
ipa: /hɛəɹoʊ.ɪn/
homophone: heroine (some pronunciations)
rhymes: -ɛɹəʊɪn
Forms: form: heroins
Etymology: Since the 1890s, 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.
Senses: examples: text: 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
ref: 1967, “Heroin”, in Lou Reed (music), The Velvet Underground & Nico, performed by The Velvet Underground:
text: 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 veins
ref: 1972, “King Heroin”, in Manny Rosen (lyrics), There It Is, performed by James Brown:
text: 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.
ref: 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 original on 15 Apr 2024:
text: 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.
ref: 2016 March 25, Katharine Q. Seelye, “Heroin Epidemic Is Yielding to a Deadlier Cousin: Fentanyl”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Aug 2021:
text: Yeah, it does, though, it does. Heroin works basically everywhere because it’s heroin. It’s not a cellphone. Heroin has full coverage.
ref: 2016, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Opiods”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 27, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:
text: 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?”!
ref: 2017, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Confederacy”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 26, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:
text: That’s because the second thing to know about Games Workshop is, as Gillen says, that Warhammer was what middle-class nerds did instead of heroin. It was just as expensive, and probably no better for your social life.
ref: 2019 January 21, Alex Hern, “‘Heroin for middle-class nerds’: how Warhammer conquered gaming”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2019:
glosses: A powerful and addictive drug derived from opium producing intense euphoria, classed as an illegal narcotic in most of the world.
Synonyms: sense: chemical names
word: diacetylmorphine
sense: chemical names
word: diamorphine
sense: street names
word: Big H
sense: street names
word: boy
sense: street names
word: brown
sense: street names
word: bujj
sense: street names
word: dope
sense: street names
word: junk
sense: street names
word: H
sense: street names
word: horse
sense: street names
word: Ron
sense: street names
word: shit
sense: street names
word: skag
sense: street names
word: smack
sense: street names
word: train
sense: street names
word: yam yam
word: brown sugar
word: dog food
word: henry
word: heroin
word: muck
word: mud
word: ron
word: scag
word: spider
word: sugar
word: whiteboy
word: white lady
Hypernyms: word: opiate
word: opioid
word: narcotic
word: recreational drug
word: street drug
Derived terms: antiheroin
brown heroin
heroin chic
heroinism
heroinlike
heroinomania
heroinomaniac
heroinware
hillbilly heroin
Related terms: word: China White
word: shit