eroina

heroin

noun eh-roh-EE-nah Rare

Origin: From German Heroin, a brand name coined by Bayer in 1898, from Greek hērōs, 'hero.'

Also means

heroine

Usage Note

Eroina is a true homograph: it means both 'heroin' (the drug) and 'heroine' (a female hero), and the two are pronounced identically (eh-roh-EE-nah) — only context disambiguates. The drug sense dominates in news media. The masculine counterpart for 'hero' is eroe.

Examples

"La polizia ha sequestrato una partita di eroina."

Natural Translation

Police seized a shipment of heroin.

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