deafness

English

Etymology

From Middle English deefnesse; equivalent to deaf +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛfnəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

deafness (countable and uncountable, plural deafnesses)

1. The condition of being deaf; the lack or loss of the ability to hear.
   • 1965, Frank Herbert, Dune‎^[1] (Science Fiction), New York: Ace Books, →OCLC, page 47‎^[2]:

     Paul wet his lips with his tongue, read: “ ‘Think you of I the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us? What is there around us that we cannot—’ ”

2. (figurative) Lack of knowledge or refusal to admit a particular problem, issue, etc.

   their deafness to her cries

Derived terms

• cocktail party deafness
• inattentional deafness
• peri-lingual deafness
• post-lingual deafness
• stress deafness
• tone-deafness
• urticaria-deafness-amyloidosis syndrome
• word-deafness

 

Related terms

• deaf
• deafen

Translations

condition of being deaf

• Arabic: صَمَم (ṣamam)
• Armenian: խլություն (hy) (xlutʻyun)
• Belarusian: глухата́ f (hluxatá)
• Bulgarian: глухота́ (bg) f (gluhotá)
• Catalan: sordesa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聾／聋 (zh) (lóng)

• Czech: hluchota (cs) f
• Danish: døvhed c
• Dutch: doofheid (nl) f
• Estonian: kurtus
• Finnish: kuurous (fi)
• French: surdité (fr) f
• German: Taubheit (de) f (complete), Gehörlosigkeit (de) f (complete or partial), Schwerhörigkeit (de) f (partial), Surditas f (technical)
• Greek: κώφωση (el) f (kófosi), κωφότητα (el) f (kofótita)

  Ancient: κωφότης f (kōphótēs)

• Hebrew: חירשות f (khershut)
• Hindi: बहरापन m (bahrāpan)
• Hunsrik: Daabheet f, Daabheit f
• Irish: bodhaire f
• Italian: sordità (it) f
• Japanese: 難聴 (ja) (なんちょう, nanchō)
• Kazakh: кереңдік (kereñdık)
• Latin: surditās f
• Latvian: kurlums m
• Macedonian: глувост f (gluvost)
• Malay: kepekakan, ketulian
• Navajo: ajéékałgo ąąh dahazʼą́
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: døvhet (no) m

• Old English: dēafu f
• Ottoman Turkish: صاغرلق (sağırlık)
• Persian: ناشنوایی (fa) (nâšenavâyi)
• Polish: głuchota (pl) f
• Portuguese: surdez (pt) f
• Russian: глухота́ (ru) f (gluxotá)
• Scottish Gaelic: buidhre f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: глуво̀ћа f, глувост f (Serbian), глухо̀ћа f, глухост f (Bosnian, Croatian)

  Roman: gluvòća f, gluvost f (Serbian), gluhòća f, gluhost f (Bosnian, Croatian)

• Sicilian: surdania f
• Slovak: hluchota (sk) f
• Slovene: gluhota f
• Spanish: sordera (es) f
• Swahili: ulemavu wa kusikia
• Swedish: dövhet (sv) c
• Telugu: చెవుడు (te) (cevuḍu), చెవిటితనం (ceviṭitanaṁ)
• Turkish: sağırlık (tr)
• Ukrainian: глухота́ f (hluxotá), глу́хість f (hlúxistʹ)

See also

• anosmia
• blindness