Superhero

How to spell superhero

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce superhero

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does superhero mean?

1. nounA fictional character with extraordinary powers who fights crime or protects people.

Superhero in a sentence

• The child dressed as a superhero for the costume party.

• The studio announced a new superhero film set for next summer.

Where does superhero come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is a modern compound that joins the Latin prefix super-, meaning 'above' or 'beyond', to 'hero', a word English took from the Greek hērōs. In ancient Greek a hērōs was a warrior or demigod of exceptional courage, often a protector honoured after death, and the sense of outstanding bravery carried through Latin heros and into English by the late 1300s. The 'super-' element, literally 'over and above', had long been productive in English for forming words that suggest something exceeding the ordinary, as in superhuman and supernatural. 'Superhero' itself is a twentieth-century coinage, appearing in the 1910s and 1920s and becoming firmly established with the rise of American comic books in the late 1930s. The spelling stays predictable once you see the two clear parts, super plus hero, with no doubled letters and no dropped vowels.

How the word is built

• super- (above, beyond)
• hero (from Greek hērōs, a brave or protecting figure)