deafen

English

Etymology

From deaf +‎ -en (verbal suffix). Compare Middle English deven, deaven (“to make deaf”), Old English ādēafian (“to deafen”), Dutch verdoven (“to stupefy, deafen”), German betäuben (“to stun, stupefy, deafen”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛfən/
• Rhymes: -ɛfən

Verb

deafen (third-person singular simple present deafens, present participle deafening, simple past and past participle deafened)

1. (transitive) To make deaf, either temporarily or permanently.
2. (transitive) To make soundproof.

   to deafen a wall or a floor

3. (transitive, rare, dialectal, sometimes figuratively) To stun, as with noise.
   • 1855, Macaulay

     Racine left the ground […] deafened, dazzled and tired to death.

Translations

to make deaf

• Aromanian: asurdzãscu
• Breton: bouzarañ (br)
• Bulgarian: оглушавам (bg) (oglušavam)
• Catalan: ensordir (ca)
• Dutch: verdoven (nl), doof maken
• Finnish: kuurouttaa
• French: assourdir (fr)
• German: betäuben (de)

• Hungarian: megsüketít (hu)
• Indonesian: menulikan (id)
• Japanese: 聾する (ろうする, rōsuru)
• Korean: 귀를 먹먹하게 하다 (gwi-reul meongmeokhage hada)
• Polish: ogłuszać impf, ogłuszyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: ensurdecer
• Romanian: asurzi (ro)
• Russian: оглуша́ть (ru) impf (oglušátʹ), глуши́ть (ru) impf (glušítʹ), оглуши́ть (ru) pf (oglušítʹ)
• Spanish: ensordecer (es)

to make soundproof

• Bulgarian: заглушавам (bg) (zaglušavam), правя звуконепроницаем (pravja zvukonepronicaem)
• Dutch: geluiddicht maken

• Finnish: äänieristää
• Russian: заглуши́ть (ru) pf (zaglušítʹ), приглуши́ть (ru) pf (priglušítʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} להתחרש‎‎ (lehitkharesh)

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} surdigar (io)