# heroine

Pronunciation: say "HE-roh-in" US /ˈhɛɹoʊɪn/, UK /ˈhɛɹəʊɪn/

## Noun

1. A woman or girl regarded as a hero, admired for her courage or great achievements.
   - Simple: A woman or girl who is admired for being brave or doing great things.
   - _The firefighter who carried three neighbors out of the burning building was hailed as a heroine._
   - _The town still honors the resistance heroines who hid refugees during the war._
2. The main female character in a story, play, film, or other work.
   - Simple: The main woman or girl character in a book, movie, or play.
   - _The novel's heroine spends most of the story trying to escape an unhappy marriage._
   - _She has sung tragic heroines in most of the great opera houses._

## Adjective

3. Having the character of a heroine; heroic. *(rare)*
   - Simple: Like a heroine, or brave like a hero.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2** — From Latin hērōīna, from late Ancient Greek ἡρωΐνη (hērōḯnē), the feminine of ἥρως (hḗrōs, "hero, demigod"); in English terms, hero + the feminine suffix -ine. It is found in English from 1587, and the sense "female lead character" from 1715.
**Meaning 3** — Partly from the noun and partly from hero + -ine, a suffix that forms adjectives.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/heroine (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).