heroin

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈher.əʊ.ɪn/, US /ˈher.oʊ.ɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Heroin, a trademark registered in 1898 by Friedrich Bayer & Co. for their substitute for morphine.^[2][3][4][5] By tradition the name comes from Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”) (see hero) and the chemical suffix -ine, from the drug's effect on the user's self-esteem,^[3][6][7] but Etymonline finds no evidence for this, and Barnhart and Hoad call the name unexplained or uncertain.^[3][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

1898.^[2][3][5][4] The Lancet of December 1898 reported trials of the new hypnotic in Professor Gerhardt's clinic in Berlin.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Before the trademark was registered, a report on fifty patients with lung disease at a Berlin hospital found the drug effective against coughs, leaving patients comfortable and drowsy with no unpleasant side effects.^[2]

Timeline

• 1898 – Heroin (German trademark); heroin.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A highly addictive narcotic, a white, bitter crystalline powder made from morphine; diamorphine.

Word family

• heroinism

Related words

• hero
• morphine

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press