superhero

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

superhero

Wikipedia

Etymology

From super- +‎ hero. First attested in 1917.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /s(j)upɚhɪɹoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

superhero (plural superheroes)

1. Any fictional crime-fighting character, often with supernatural powers or equipment, in popular children's and fantasy literature; a fictional hero who does great things.
   • 1990 February 13, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):

     Hobbes: Super heroes wear snow pants?
     Stupendous Man: When there's snow out, they do!

2. (by extension) A particularly renowned real-world hero, or one who has seemingly impossible abilities.

   The power is out but you're watching TV? You must be a superhero.

   Thanks for driving out here and towing me out of the ditch. You're a superhero!

   • 1991, Boys' Life‎, volume 81, number 1, page 42:

     Did you know your community has many invisible superheroes? Each day they perform hundreds of amazing feats that make the community a better place in which to live.

Antonyms

• supervillain

Derived terms

• real superhero
• superhero insurance
• superhero landing

 

Related terms

• superheroic
• superheroine
• superhuman
• superman

Translations

a fictional crime-fighting character with superpowers

Bulgarian: супергеро́й (bg) m (supergerój) Catalan: superheroi m Chinese: Mandarin: 超級英雄／超级英雄 (zh) (chāojí yīngxióng) Czech: superhrdina m Danish: superhelt m Dutch: superheld (nl) m Esperanto: superheroo Estonian: superkangelane Finnish: supersankari (fi) French: super-héros (fr) m, superhéros (fr) m Galician: superheroe m Georgian: სუპერგმირი (suṗergmiri) German: Superheld (de) m Greek: υπερήρωας (el) m (yperíroas) Hindi: सुपर हीरो m (supar hīro) Hungarian: szuperhős (hu) Icelandic: ofurhetja f Irish: sárlaoch m Italian: supereroe (it) m Japanese: スーパーヒーロー (ja) (sūpāhīrō) Kazakh: суперқаһарман (superqaharman) Korean: 슈퍼히어로 (syupeohieoro) Latvian: supervaronis Lithuanian: superherojus Luxembourgish: Superheld Macedonian: суперхе́рој m (superhéroj) Malay: adiwira (ms) Maltese: supereroj m Marathi: सुपरहिरो m (suparhiro) Mongolian: супер баатар (super baatar) Polish: superbohater (pl) m Portuguese: super-herói (pt) Russian: супергеро́й (ru) m (supergerój) Spanish: superhéroe (es) Swahili: shujaa wa ajabu m, shujaa mkuu m Swedish: superhjälte (sv) c Thai: ซูเปอร์ฮีโร่ (sūpexr̒ḥīrò), ยอดมนุษย์ (yɔ̂ɔt-má-nút) Turkish: süper kahraman m Ukrainian: супергеро́й m (superherój) Vietnamese: siêu anh hùng (超英雄) Welsh: siwpyr-arwr m, siwpyr-arwres f

See also

• 🦸‍♂️

References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20141105205405/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superhero