Sumain

English

Etymology

From Spanish su (“your”) + French main (“hand”).

Noun

Sumain (plural Sumains)

1. (Deaf culture, neologism, uncommon) Someone who communicates primarily using a sign language.
   • 2015 January 9, Marla Berkowitz, quotee, “A Conversation with Marla Berkowitz, ASL Senior Lecturer”, in OSU Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-06-06:

     Growing up I lived as "passing as a hearing-identified person" who was taught the English language through speech training. Upon discovery of ASL and the DEAF-WORLD, the ease of conversations changed my life. Nowadays, I'm a Sumain; "a coined word from two languages - Su - your; main - hands which as a group connect with each other using our hands."

   • 2018 May 15, “An Open Letter of things I must say”, in Reddit‎^[2], r/kurzgesagt:

     I would love, love (but doubt) to see this video go into a really, actually diverse set of cultures. I want to see how human psych and understandings can be seen through a Haudenosaunee lens, through an Inuit lens, through a Viittomakielinen lens, through a Sumain lens, through a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh lens, through... beyond language/culture (which shapes humans so deeply), also traumas inflicted I would be curious to see about.

   • 2019 December 27, Kimberly K. Pudans-Smith, Katrina R. Cue, Ju-Lee A. Wolsey, M. Diane Clark, “To Deaf or not to deaf: That is the Question”, in Psychology, volume 10, number 15, Irvine, C.A.: Scientific Research Publishing, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2097:

     There were no respondents who identified as DeafDisabled, although one participant in their "other" comment mentioned that they had an additional disability, but felt it was "a less prominent factor." Eight respondents used the "other" option to list their hearing identification; visually impaired (hearing), CODA (Children of Deaf Adults; 2 respondents), TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury] survivor, Sumain, hard of hearing and Deaf, DeafBlind disabled, not sure yet, and maybe deaf.

Further reading

• “sumain”, in Urban Dictionary, launched 1999.