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deaf. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English deef, from Old English dēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *daub, from Proto-Germanic *daubaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τυφλός (tuphlós, “blind”). See also dumb.
Pronunciation
Adjective
deaf (comparative deafer, superlative deafest)
- Unable to hear, or only partially able to hear.
My brother has been deaf since sustaining injuries in the war.
It's important for TV shows to provide closed captioning for the deaf.
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf.
1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. , London: J M for H Herringman , published 1667, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 6:Deaf vvith the noyſe I took my haſty flight.
- Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive; regardless.
Those people are deaf to reason.
c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :O, that men's ears should be / To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!
1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 12:The curioſity of the lady was highly inflamed, to know the hiſtory of the parrot's tranſmigration, which ſhe intreated the bird with all her eloquence to relate; but he preſented a deaf ear to her importunity, and, like a painted nightingale, remained ſilent.
- Of or relating to the community of deaf people.
1994, Bruce N. Snider, Carol Erting, Robert C. Johnson, The Deaf Way, page 734:The best place to fight Hollywood deafism is in our deaf schools. If we give our children understanding and appreciation of our rich culture and sign language, the students will gain a deaf heritage and become more creative, more aware, and more assertive global deaf citizens.
- (obsolete) Obscurely heard; stifled; deadened.
- (obsolete, UK, dialect) Decayed; tasteless; dead.
a deaf nut; deaf corn
1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. , (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: Adam Islip, published 1635, →OCLC:If the season be unkindly and intemperate, they [peppers] will catch a blast; and then the seeds will be deafe, void, light, and naught.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
unable to hear
- Abkhaz: адагәа (adagʷa)
- Adyghe: дэгу (dɛgʷu)
- Afrikaans: dowe
- Aghwan: 𐕆𐔼𐕒𐔽𐔰 (hioˁa)
- Aklanon: bungoe
- Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
- Albanian: i shurdhër (sq)
- American Sign Language: 1@Jaw 1@Chin
- Arabic: أَصَمّ (ʔaṣamm)
- Egyptian Arabic: أصم m (ʔaṣamm), أطرش m (ʔaṭraš)
- Aragonese: xordo
- Armenian: խուլ (hy) (xul)
- Aromanian: surdu
- Assamese: কলা (kola), অন্ধ (ondho)
- Asturian: sordu, xordu
- Auslan: please add this translation if you can
- Avar: гӏинкъаб (ʻinqxʼab)
- Azerbaijani: kar (az)
- Balinese: bongol
- Bashkir: һаңғырау (hañğıraw)
- Basque: gor (eu)
- Bau Bidayuh: bongam
- Belarusian: глухі́ (be) (hluxí)
- Bikol Central: bungog (bcl)
- Breton: bouzar (br)
- British Sign Language: H@Ear
- Bulgarian: глух (bg) (gluh)
- Burmese: နားပင်း (my) (na:pang:)
- Catalan: sord (ca)
- Cebuano: bungol
- Central Malay: pekak
- Central Melanau: pakeak, tulek
- Chamicuro: majchayi
- Chechen: къора (qʼora)
- Cherokee: ᏧᎵᎡᎾ (tsuliena)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 耳聾/耳聋 (ji5 lung4), 聾/聋 (lung4)
- Hokkien: 耳聾/耳聋 (hīⁿ-lâng)
- Mandarin: 聾/聋 (zh) (lóng), 耳聾/耳聋 (zh) (ěrlóng)
- Cornish: bodhar
- Corsican: sordu (co)
- Crimean Tatar: sağır
- Czech: hluchý (cs) m
- Dalmatian: suard
- Danish: døv (da)
- Dutch: doof (nl), dove (nl)
- Esperanto: surda (eo)
- Estonian: kurt
- Faroese: deyvur
- Finnish: kuuro (fi), kuulovammainen
- French: sourd (fr)
- Friulian: sort, sord
- Galician: xordo, mouco (gl) m
- Georgian: ყრუ (ka) (q̇ru), სმენადაკარგული (smenadaḳarguli) (more politically correct)
- German: taub (de), gehörlos (de)
- Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (bauþs)
- Greek: κωφός (el) m (kofós), κουφός (el) m (koufós)
- Ancient: κωφός (kōphós)
- Haitian Creole: soud
- Hawaiian: kuli
- Hebrew: חֵירֵשׁ (he) (kheresh)
- Higaonon: bungol
- Hindi: बहरा (hi) (bahrā)
- Hungarian: (possibly offensive, though common) süket (hu), (PC) siket (hu)
- Hunsrik: daab
- Iban: achak
- Icelandic: daufur (is)
- Indonesian: tuli (id), tuna rungu
- Ingrian: gluuhkoi
- Irish: bodhar
- Old Irish: bodar
- Istriot: surdo
- Italian: sordo (it)
- Japanese: 耳の聞こえない (みみのきこえない, mimi no kikoenai), 耳が不自由 (mimi ga fujiyuu)
- Javanese: budheg (jv), jampeng (jv)
- Kabardian: дэгу (kbd) (dɛgʷu)
- Kazakh: саңырау (sañyrau)
- Khinalug: баьш (bäš)
- Khmer: ថ្លង់ (km) (tlɑŋ)
- Korean: 귀머거리의 (gwimeogeori-ui)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: کەڕ (kerr)
- Northern Kurdish: kerr (ku), guhgiran (ku)
- Ladin: sëurt
- Ladino: sodro
- Lao: ຫູໜວກ (hū nūak)
- Latgalian: kūrslys m
- Latin: surdus (la) m
- Latvian: kurls m, nedzirdīgs
- Lezgi: биши (biši)
- Lithuanian: kurčias
- Low German: dow
- Luxembourgish: daf (lb)
- Macedonian: глув (gluv)
- Malay: pekak (ms), tuli (ms), congek, tunakerna
- Maltese: trux
- Manchu: ᡩᡠᡨᡠ (dutu)
- Mansaka: bungul
- Maori: turi (mi), pūwharawhara
- Maranao: bengel, biso
- Marathi: बधीर (badhīr), बहिरा (mr) (bahirā)
- Mingrelian: ჸუნგა (ʾunga), ჸურუ (ʾuru), ჸუჯა (ʾuǯa), დაგუ̂ა (dagûa)
- Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
- Musi: pekak
- Navajo: ajéékałgo ąąh dahazʼą́, jééhkał
- Ngarrindjeri: plombatji
- Nicaraguan Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
- North Frisian: (Föhr-Amrum) duuf
- Northern Sami: bealjeheapmi
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: døv (no)
- Nynorsk: døv, dauv
- Occitan: sord (oc)
- Odia: ବଧିର (or) (bôdhirô)
- Old English: dēaf
- Old Javanese: buḍĕg
- Oromo: duudaa
- Ottoman Turkish: صاغر (sağır)
- Pashto: کوڼ (ps) (kuṇ)
- Persian: کر (fa) (kar), ناشنوا (fa) (nâšenavâ)
- Plautdietsch: doof
- Polish: głuchy (pl) m
- Portuguese: surdo (pt), mouco (pt)
- Romanian: surd (ro)
- Romanian Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: глухо́й (ru) (gluxój)
- Sanskrit: बधिर (sa) (badhira), कल्ल (sa) (kalla)
- Sardinian: suldu, surdu
- Scots: deif
- Scottish Gaelic: bodhar
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: глув (Serbia), глух (Bosnia, Croatia)
- Roman: gluv (sh) (Serbia), gluh (sh) (Bosnia, Croatia)
- Sinhalese: බිහිරි (si) (bihiri)
- Skolt Sami: kluuǥǥai
- Slovak: hluchý m
- Slovene: gluh (sl)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: głuchy
- Spanish: sordo (es)
- Sundanese: torék
- Svan: ყუ̂რიუ̂ (q̇ûriû), ყუგ (q̇ug)
- Swedish: döv (sv)
- Tagalog: bingi
- Tajik: кар (tg) (kar)
- Talysh: kor
- Telugu: చెవిటి (te) (ceviṭi)
- Thai: หูหนวก (hǔu-nùuak)
- Tibetan: འོན་པ ('on pa)
- Tlingit: lkhool.áxhji
- Turkish: sağır (tr)
- Ubykh: дагәы (dagʷə)
- Ukrainian: глухи́й (hluxýj)
- Urdu: بہرا (bahrā)
- Venetian: sórdo
- Vietnamese: điếc (vi)
- Volapük: surdik
- Welsh: byddar (cy)
- West Frisian: dôf
- Yagnobi: кар (kar)
- Yiddish: טויב (toyb), טויבלעך (toyblekh), חושימדיק (khushemdik)
- Yup'ik: niitesciigatelria
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unable to hear, used as a substantive: deaf people considered as a group
See also
Noun
deaf (plural deafs)
- (nonstandard, rare) A deaf person.
1897, József Jekelfalussy, The Millennium of Hungary and Its People, page 347:Among the second group of philanthropic educational institutions the institutes for the deafs and dumbs must be mentioned.
1980, Cao Van Vien, Van Khuyen Dong, Reflections on the Vietnam War:Negotiations for South Vietnam's political future and the enforcement of cease-fire between two sides progressed like a conversation between two deafs.
2014, Chelsea Handler, My Horizontal Life, →ISBN:"I work with the blind mostly. Some deafs too," I told her.
2015, Judith Richards, The Sounds of Silence, →ISBN:Two deafs did not always make deaf babies.
Usage notes
Used primarily within the deaf community.
Translations
Verb
deaf (third-person singular simple present deafs, present participle deafing, simple past and past participle deafed)
- (obsolete, transitive) To deafen.
1634, John Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Two Noble Kinsmen:It is enough, my hearing shall be punish'd With what shall happen, -- 'gainst the which there is No deafing -- but to hear, not taint mine eye With dread sights that it may shun.
1871, Charlse Hindlley, A Kicksey Winsey: Or a Lerry Come-Twang:Shall we, I say, that have been so long civil and wealthy in peace, famous and invincible in war, fortunate in both, we that have been ever able to aid any of our neighbours (but never deafed any of their ears with any of our supplications for assistance) shall we, I say, without blushing, abase ourselves so far, as to imitate these beastly Indians, slaves to the Spaniards, refuse to the world, and as yet aliens from the holy covenant of God?
See also
References
- ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (1942 March 2) “1. The Vowel Sounds of Stressed Syllables”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 4, page 21.
Anagrams
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *daub.
Germanic cognates include Old Frisian dāf, Old Saxon dōf (Low German dow), Old High German toub (German taub), Old Norse daufr (Swedish döv). The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek τυφλός (tyflós, “blind”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
dēaf
- deaf
Declension
Declension of dēaf — Strong
Declension of dēaf — Weak
Descendants