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 figurative) To stun, as with noise.
   • 1855, Macaulay

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

Translations

to make deaf

• Arabic: أَصَمَّ (ʔaṣamma)
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} להתחרש (lehitkharesh)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} surdigar (io)