heroin

Meaning

Noun

• A powerful and addictive drug derived from opium producing intense euphoria. Classed as an illegal narcotic in most of the world.

Related

Similar words

• diacetylmorphine, diamorphine
• Big H, boy, brown, bujj, dope, junk, H, horse, , shit, skag, smack, train, yam yam

Origin

• Since the 1890s, from German Heroin, originally a trademark said to derive from Ancient Greek ἥρως ("hero") (due to the feelings of power and exaltation while under the influence of the drug) and the suffix -in. Alternatively explained as reference to the heroic school of medicine.{{cite-journal
• |date=September 2000
• |title=Chasing the Dragon: The Cultural Metamorphosis of Opium in the United States, 1825-1935
• |author=Marcus Aurin
• |work=Medical Anthropology Quarterly
• |volume=14
• |issue=3
• |pages=414-441
• |doi=10.1525/maq.2000.14.3.414