heroine

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French héroïne and partly borrowed from Latin hērōīna, also hērōīnē.^[2][3][4] The French word meant the central female character of a story from 1554 and a woman of courageous or noble deeds from 1578.^[2] The Latin word, a woman between mortal and goddess, is from Ancient Greek ἡρωΐνη (hērōī́nē),^[2][5][6][7] the feminine of ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”),^[8][5][6] formed with the suffix -ίνη (-ínē), the source of English -ine.^[2][7][6] Wiktionary dates the Greek word to the 2nd century.^[1] It is related to hero, and the French word has parallels in Spanish heroína (1614) and Italian eroina (1554).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A woman distinguished by courageous or noble actions: 1587, in J. Bridges's Defence of the Government of the Church of England.^[2][9] Etymonline instead dates the word to the 1650s, in the sense "demigoddess",^[8] and Dictionary.com to 1650–60.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In classical mythology a heroine was a woman of superhuman powers favoured by the gods, often regarded as semi-divine, a sense recorded in English from 1616.^[2][8] The general sense of a woman admired for her courage or achievements, which the OED has from 1587, Etymonline dates to the 1660s.^[2][8] From 1672 the word was used for the central female character of a romance, play or story,^[2] a sense that Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford date to the early 18th century.^[8][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a female hero" and remarked that English analogy would once have given heroess.^[10] From 1841 it was also used of a woman admired by a particular person or group ("her heroine").^[2] Sterne used to heroine it, to play the heroine, in 1760.^[2]

Timeline

• 1587 – a woman of courageous or noble actions.^[2][9]
• 1616 – a demigoddess of classical mythology; also as an adjective, heroic.^[2]
• 1650s – demigoddess, in Etymonline's dating.^[8]
• 1672 – the principal female character of a story.^[2]
• 1715 – principal female character, in Etymonline's dating.^[8]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as "a female hero".^[10]
• 1760 – to heroine it, in Sterne's Tristram Shandy.^[2]
• 1841 – a woman admired by a specified person or group.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman admired for her courage, noble qualities or achievements: She became a local heroine after the flood rescue.^[11][9][2]
2. The main female character in a novel, play, film or poem: The heroine of the story is a young lighthouse keeper.^[11][9][2]
3. A woman of myth or legend with heroic qualities; a demigoddess.^[9][2]
4. The central female figure of an event or period.^[9][6]

Word family

• antiheroine
• heroinism
• superheroine

Related words

• hero
• heroic
• heroism
• heroin

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins