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 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book I: Dune”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 40:

     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

Coordinate terms

• ageusia
• anosmia
• blindness

Derived terms

• albinism-deafness syndrome
• cocktail party deafness
• inattentional deafness
• keratitis-ichthyosis-deafness syndrome
• peri-lingual deafness
• post-lingual deafness
• stress deafness
• Tietz albinism-deafness syndrome
• 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
• Esperanto: surdeco
• 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 Greek: 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)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کەڕی (ckb) (kerrî)

• 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
• 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)

  Latin: 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
• Tamil: செவிடு (ta) (ceviṭu)
• Telugu: చెవుడు (te) (cevuḍu), చెవిటితనం (ceviṭitanaṁ)
• Turkish: sağırlık (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: صاغرلق (sağırlık)

• Ukrainian: глухота́ f (hluxotá), глу́хість f (hlúxistʹ)