heroism

English

Etymology

From French héroïsme, equivalent to hero +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹəʊɪzəm/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹoʊɪzəm/, /ˈhiɹoʊɪzəm/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

heroism (countable and uncountable, plural heroisms)

The qualities characteristic of a hero, such as courage, bravery, fortitude, selflessness, etc.; the display of such qualities.
Synonym: heroship
- 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 1948, page 43:
  At the time, with the D-Day invasion of Europe going on, their heroism was hardly noticed. Plenty of other heroes were dying elsewhere. Plenty of bigger bits of history were being made.

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:goodness

Related terms

hero
heroic
heroics
heroine
heroship

Translations

the qualities characteristic of a hero, the display of them

Albanian: heroizëm (sq) m
Arabic: بَسَالَة‎ f (basāla), بُطُولَة‎ f (buṭūla)
Armenian: հերոսություն (hy) (herosutʿyun)
Azerbaijani: qəhrəmanlıq
Belarusian: гераі́зм m (hjeraízm), гэраі́зм m (heraízm), геро́йства n (hjerójstva), гэро́йства n (herójstva)
Bulgarian: геро́йство (bg) n (gerójstvo), герои́зъм (bg) m (geroízǎm)
Burmese: သူရဲကောင်းဝါဒ (surai:kaung:wada.)
Catalan: heroisme m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 英雄主義／英雄主义 (zh) (yīngxióngzhǔyì), 豪氣／豪气 (zh) (háoqì)
Czech: hrdinství (cs) n, heroismus m
Danish: heltemod n
Dutch: heldenmoed (nl) m
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: kangelaslikkus
Finnish: sankaruus (fi)
French: héroïsme (fr) m
Galician: heroísmo m
Georgian: გმირობა (gmiroba)
German: Heldenmut (de) m, Heroismus (de) m, Heldentum (de) n
Greek: ηρωισμός (el) m (iroïsmós)
Hebrew: גְבוּרָה‎ (he) f (gvurá)
Hindi: शौर्य (hi) m (śaurya), बहादुरी (hi) f (bahādurī)
Hungarian: hősiesség (hu)
Indonesian: kepahlawanan (id)
Irish: laochas
Italian: eroismo (it) m
Japanese: 勇壮 (ja) (ゆうそう, yūsō), 英雄主義 (ja) (えいゆうしゅぎ, eiyūshugi), ヒロイズム (ja) (hiroizumu)
Kazakh: қаһармандық (qaharmandyq), ерлік (erlık), батырлық (batyrlyq)
Khmer: វីរភាព (viirĕəʼphiəp), វីរសម្បត្តិ (viirĕəʼ sɑmbat)
Korean: 영웅심(英雄心) (yeong'ungsim), 영웅주의(英雄主義) (yeong'ungjuui)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: قارەمانی‎ (ku) (qaremanî)
Northern Kurdish: qehremanî (ku)
Kyrgyz: баатырдык (ky) (baatırdık), каармандык (ky) (kaarmandık), эрдик (ky) (erdik)
Lao: ນະຣຶການ (na rư kān), ວີລະກຳ (wī la kam), ວີຣະກຳ (wī ra kam)
Latvian: heroisms m, varonība f
Lithuanian: heroizmas m, didvyriškumas m
Macedonian: ју́наштво n (júnaštvo), хе́ројство n (hérojstvo), херои́зам m (heroízam)
Malay: kepahlawanan
Maori: hautoa
Norwegian:
Bokmål: heroisme m, heltemot n
Ottoman Turkish: قهرمانلق‎ (kahramanlık)
Pashto: قهرماني‎ (ps) f (qahramāni)
Persian: قهرمانی‎ (fa) (qahramâni), بسالت‎ (fa) (basālat)
Polish: bohaterstwo (pl) n, heroizm (pl) m, bohaterskość (pl) f (rare)
Portuguese: heroísmo (pt) m
Romanian: eroism (ro) n
Russian: герои́зм (ru) m (geroízm), геро́йство (ru) n (gerójstvo)
Sanskrit: शवस् (sa) n (śavas), शौर्य (sa) n (śaurya)
Scottish Gaelic: tapachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: хероѝзам m, херо́јство n, јуна́штво n
Roman: heroìzam (sh) m, herójstvo (sh) n, junáštvo (sh) n
Slovak: hrdinstvo n, heroizmus m
Slovene: junaštvo n, herojstvo n
Spanish: heroísmo (es) m
Swahili: ushujaa
Swedish: hjältemod (sv) n, heroism (sv) c
Tajik: қаҳрамонӣ (tg) (qahramonī)
Tamil: வீரம் (ta) (vīram)
Tatar: батырлык (tt) (batırlıq)
Thai: วีรกรรม (th) (wii-rá-gam)
Turkish: kahramanlık (tr)
Turkmen: gahrymanlyk, gahrymançylyk
Ukrainian: герої́зм (uk) m (herojízm), геро́йство n (herójstvo)
Urdu: بَہادُری‎ f (bahādurī), بَسالَت‎ f (basālat)
Uyghur: قەھرىمانلىق‎ (qehrimanliq)
Uzbek: qahramonlik (uz)
Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa anh hùng, tinh thần anh hùng
Volapük: heroed (vo)
Yiddish: גבֿורה‎ f (gvure)

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “heroism”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

Moshier, heirmos, more-ish, moreish