Heroes

How to spell heroes

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce heroes

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does heroes mean?

1. nounMore than one person admired for courage, noble deeds, or outstanding achievements.

Heroes in a sentence

• The firefighters were hailed as heroes after the rescue.

• The memorial honours the war heroes who never came home.

Where does heroes come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is the plural of 'hero', which traces back to the ancient Greek heros, a word for a man of superhuman strength or courage, often a demigod descended partly from the gods and honoured after death. In Greek myth the heroes were figures like Heracles and Achilles, celebrated in epic poetry for their feats. The word passed into Latin as heros and then reached English through French in the late 1300s, gradually broadening from these legendary warriors to any admired person of great bravery or achievement. The plural takes -es rather than just -s because the singular ends in a vowel sound spelled with -o, following the same pattern as 'potatoes' and 'tomatoes'; this is precisely the spelling trap, since writers often drop the e and write the incorrect 'heros'. Curiously, the same Greek root survives in 'heroine' for a female hero and in 'heroic' for the quality itself.

How the word is built

• hero (from Greek heros: protector, demigod)
• -es (plural ending for nouns ending in -o)