deaf

Meanings

Adjective

• Unable to hear, or only partially able to hear.
• Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive; regardless.
• Obscurely heard; stifled; deadened.
• Decayed; tasteless; dead.

Noun

• A deaf person.

Verb

• To deafen.

Related

Similar words

• hard of hearing
• hearing-impaired

Origin

• From Middle English deef, from Old English dēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *daub, from Proto-Germanic *daubaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- ("to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure"). Cognate with Ancient Greek τυφλός ("blind"). See also dumb.