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Definition: Deaf |
DeafAdjective1. Lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing wholly or in part. 2. (usually followed by `to') unwilling or refusing to pay heed; "deaf to her warnings". Noun1. People who have severe hearing impairments; "many of the deaf use sign language". Verb1. Make or render deaf. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "deaf" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Note: Deaf \Deaf, transitive verb. To deafen. [Obsolete]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Deaf Deaf as an adder. (See below, Deaf adder.) Deaf as a post. Quite deaf; or so inattentive as not to hear what is said. One might as well speak to a gate-post or log of wood. Deaf as a white cat. It is said that white cats are deaf and stupid. None so deaf as those who won't hear. The French have the same locution: "Il n'y a de pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
To be deaf is to be unable to hear. This word is frequently used and understood in an audiological sense, expressing deafness as a disease; see Hearing impairment.
Deaf subculture
The word also designates one who is a member of the Deaf community. (When used in this sense, the word is capitalized.) Being unable to hear is only a part of being Deaf. To be fully included in the Deaf community, one must also know sign language and share some perspectives on, and adaptations to, deafness. Although hearing people can participate in the Deaf community, their experiences tend to set them apart.
Sign language is the central feature of Deafness. All Deaf communities speak a sign language. In some places, such as Marthas Vineyard, groups of deaf people without a language have invented a sign language spontaneously. Deaf people write in a spoken language, not in an orthography of their sign language (although writing systems have been developed for some sign languages). Various degrees of speaking and lip-reading ability are also found among Deaf people, for interacting with hearing people who do not understand sign language.
Most Deaf individuals use certain assistive devices in their daily lives. In the U.S., Deaf individuals can communicate by telephone using a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), also called a TTY. This device looks like a typewriter or word processor; it transmits typed text over the telephone. In the U.S., there is a telephone relay service so that a deaf person can communicate with a hearing person via a human translator. Wireless and internet text messaging are beginning to take over the role of the TDD. Other assistive devices include those that use flashing lights to signal events such as a ringing telephone, a doorbell, or a fire alarm.
Deaf people do not look on deafness as a disability. They consider deafness a positive trait, because it is tightly connected to other aspects of the Deaf subculture that are positive. Deaf unity and community is strong. The fact that deafness excludes Deaf people from some aspects of hearing culture and life reinforces cohesion within the community. Many Deaf individuals wish for their children to be born Deaf. Hearing people who do treat deafness as a disability are sometimes met with hostility.
Attitudes toward deafness
For much of time, deaf people were thought to be mentally retarded. This was not far from the truth as isolated deaf people rarely, if ever, learned language, which is fundamental to much of human thought. Aristotle believed that the deaf were incapable of learning or thinking. The kind of prejudice based on speech and hearing that Aristotle has expressed has influenced methods of teaching the deaf.
Oralism vs. Manualism
There are two opposing perspectives on how to teach language to deaf people: one is that deaf students should be taught primarily in sign language (manualism), the other is that deaf students should be taught primarily (or exclusively) to speak and lip-read (oralism). The rationale behind the latter method is that deaf people will have to interact with hearing people most of the time, so they must learn to communicate as hearing people do. The rationale behind the former method is that sign language is a natural form of communication while lip-reading and speaking are extremely difficult for those who cannot hear. Those who prefer the sign-language method take the approach that spoken language should be used only as an auxiliary language. In practice, deaf people have been observed to learn and communicate much faster and more fluently when taught in sign language than when taught orally.
In the U.S., the sign-language method was primarily used until 1880, when the second International Congress on the Education and Welfare of the Deaf (composed of 163 hearing and 1 deaf individuals) voted to use the oral approach to teach deaf students. Part of the reason for the emphasis on oralism was the melting pot ideology, that everyone should share the same culture and speak the same language. Also, because sign language was not recognized as a true language, it seemed deficient as a method of communication.
One of the major factors in changing public opinion was William Stokoe's findings, published in 1960, that American Sign Language was a true language. The findings were not immediately accepted, but they played a major role in shifting the emphasis of teaching back to the sign-language method.
A growing movement in deaf education today is called bi-bi, which stands for bilingualism/biculturalism. This method aims to both respect and foster Deaf cultural identity and sign language competence and to teach and encourage skills required to function in the dominant hearing culture.
The perception and education of Deaf people as a culture were revolutionized by the student strikes at Gallaudet University starting March 9, 1988. Deaf students were outraged at the selection of another in a line of university presidents who were hearing, finding it patronizing, marginalizing, and inappropriate for such an essential part of the Deaf community. In less than a week of activism, the president-elect, who had also been criticized for malapropos statements about the functionality of Deaf people, resigned and a Deaf president replaced her.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Deaf."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
(see also Deaf)
Hearing impairment is a defect in the perception of sound by the brain. The two major categories of hearing loss are:
The treatment and prognosis of hearing impairment is somewhat different for each category, as well as the specific type of impairment. In many cases, the cause of the impairment is unknown. In other cases, the cause may be genetic ("runs in the family"), environmental (due to noise), or brought on by disease (such as rubella or meningitis).
- sensorineural, or neurological, impairment and
- loss due to malfunction of the physical apparatus of the ear.
Sensorineural hearing impairments
Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when the nerves that communicate information from the cochlea to the brain malfunction such that the information transmitted does not reach the auditory centers of the brain. There are several different types.
The most common type is a broad category in which the threshold at which sound is perceived is significantly louder than the human norm (approximately 30 decibels). In this case, it is surmiseable that the nerves leading from the inner ear require extra energy to become activated prior to signalling the auditory centers. Persons with this type of loss can often be successfully treated with the use of hearing aids.
Another type of loss is one in which sound is perceived, but the auditory centers of the brain are unable to make sense of the data received. This is different from the damage that occurs in aphasias, where the language centers of the brain are impaired. For the most part, speech therapy in persons with this type of loss is unsuccessful, and they are dependent upon sign language for communication.
Other, rarer, types of loss include losses in specific pitch ranges, and certain brain dysfunctions in which the person cannot separate multiple auditory stimuli.
Impairments due to abnormalities of the ear
Hearing loss can also occur due to abnormalties in various parts of the ear. The success of treatment depends in part on which portion of the ear is affected. Those who suffer from a condition in which the three bones behind the eardrum are fused, rendering them immobile, may be treated for a time with hearing aids. If the fusion is complete, surgery may be an option, as may be the use of cochlear implants. The latter are particularly effective for those who lose their hearing after acquiring spoken language.
In cases where the eardrum and/or outer structures of the ear are affected, loss may be minimal. Treatment may not be needed, or is facilitated through the use of hearing aids designed to accommodate the abnormality.
When the inner ear or cochlea is affected, it may be difficult to distinguish from a sensorineural loss. This is particularly true if tympanometric readings (measurements of the vibration of the ear drum) are normal. Here, the course of and success of treatment depend partly on the underlying cause. Where the cause is abnormal growths, such as polyps or cysts, these may be surgically removed. If the cause is infection, then medication and drainage of the canal are indicated. Other causes require other methods of treatment.
Effects of hearing impairment
When hearing loss is congenital (present at birth) or occurs pre-lingually, spoken language acquisition can be severely affected. The severity of impact is directly proportional to the level of loss. Those born with minor impairments may simply "sound funny". Those with severe impairments are likeliest to be noted first, particularly by their parents or caretakers, since these children do not begin speaking at a normal age.
Other symptoms of congenital hearing impairment include lack of reaction to loud noises; delayed language acquisition; disordered speech; and appearing to ignore adults when spoken to. Children who are suspected of having a hearing loss should be screened by a trained audiologist. This is because general practitioners and pediatricians are often not adequately trained in testing for and diagnosing hearing impairment and deafness. In the United States, up until the 1970s, the severely impaired and deaf were sometimes not diagnosed until the age of four. This is unfortunate, as the prognosis for the acquisition of intelligible speech increases the earlier a child's impairment is detected, and where indicated, fitted for hearing aids. Those who cannot learn spoken language even with assistance benefit from learning sign language as early as possible.
Post-lingual impairments are far more common. In the most typical case, hearing loss is gradual, and often detected by the affected person's family and friends long before the person themself will acknowledge the disability. In cases where the cause is environmental, the treatment is to eliminate the environmental cause and fit the person with hearing aids. When the loss is due to heredity, total deafness is often the end result. On the one hand, persons suffering from gradual deterioration of their hearing are fortunate in that they have learned to speak. On the other, they often suffer from social isolation, because they can no longer understand their friends, who cannot communicate effectively with them. Ultimately, unless the affected person becomes skilled in speech-reading ("lip-reading"), she will depend on sign language for communication.
In some cases, the loss is extremely sudden. Most often, the cause is unknown. Sometimes, it can be traced to specific diseases, such as meningitis, or to ototoxic medications, such as Gentamicin. In both cases, the final degree of loss varies. Some suffer only partial loss, while others become profoundly deaf. In the former case, hearing aids can be used with varying degrees of success, depending on the exact nature of the loss. In the latter, ultimately the affected person will depend on speech-reading and/or sign language for communication.
Partial Loss of Hearing
Hearing impaired persons with partial loss of hearing may find that the quality of their hearing varies from day to day, or from one situation to another. They will also, to a greater or lesser extent depend on both hearing-aids and lip-reading, similarly to more severely disabled people. They may perhaps not always be aware of it, but they do admit to it being important to see the speaker's face in conversation.
Some people may merely find it difficult to differentiate between words that begin with consonantal sounds such as the fricativess s, z, or th, or the plosivess d, t, b, or p. They may be unable to hear thin, high-pitched or metallic noises, such as birds chirping or singing, clocks ticking, etc.
Others will find their condition so much worse if circumstances in their immediate environment affect the way they are able to use their hearing-aids, or prevent them from employing their lip-reading skills. A room with a high ceiling, sound-absorbing materials or acoustic tiles on the walls will affect the sound of a speaker's voice adversely. The position of the listener,too, sitting at a right angle to the speaker at a long seminar table, thus being able to hear only with one, maybe the ineffectual ear, can make a difference. Difficulties can also arise for the listener trying to lip-read, if the speaker is sitting with his back against the light-source and is in this way obscuring his face.
The speaker's accent; the topic under discussion, possibly with many unfamiliar words; the softness of his voice; possibly his having a speech impediment; a habit of holding a hand in front of his mouth or turning his face away at times: all these tendencies cause problems to the hard-of-hearing, especially when they have to rely on lip-reading. The rustling of papers, and notebook pages being turned are precisely the noises that will be the first thing hearing-aids pick up.
Social Impact of hearing loss
In children, hearing loss can lead to social isolation for several reasons. First, the child experiences delayed social development that is in large part tied to delayed language acquisition. It is also directly tied to their inability to pick up auditory social cues. A child who uses sign language and is deaf, or identifies with the deaf sub-culture does not generally experience this isolation, particularly if he attends a school for the deaf, but may conversely experience isolation from his parents if they do not know sign language. A child who is exclusively or predominantly oral (using speech for communication) will experience social isolation from her hearing peers, particularly if no one takes the time to explicitly teach her social skills that other children acquire independently by virtue of having normal hearing. Finally, a child who has a severe impairment and uses some sign language may be rejected by her deaf peers, because of her understandable hesitation in abandoning the use of her verbal and speech-reading skills. The deaf community views this hesitation as a rejection of their own culture and its mores, and therefore will reject her out of self-defense.
Those who lose their hearing later in life, such as in late adolescence or adulthood, face their own challenges. For example, they must adjust to living with the adaptive devices that make it possible for them to live independently. They must also adapt to using hearing aids and/or learning sign language. Loneliness and depression can arise as a result of isolation (from the inability to communicate with friends and loved ones) and difficulty in accepting their disability. The challenge is made greater by the need for those around them to adapt to the person's hearing loss.
How to communicate with someone who has a hearing loss
- Ask the person what will be most useful for them; this varies from one individual to another.
- Speak normally. Do not shout or over-enunciate. Both of these make it more difficult to understand speech, not less.
- Conversely, do not mumble, cover your mouth, or whisper when speaking. All of these can conceal vital speech-reading cues that hearing impaired people use to decipher what is being said. A "favorite" pet peeve of the hearing impaired is people who speak from another room - How are they to speech-read with a wall between them and the speaker?
- If asked to repeat yourself, don't. Rephrase instead. By using different words, your friend will be able to use two data sets to understand what you meant. (This is good advice for those with normal hearing, too!) Obviously, if only one word was missed, you can try just repeating that word, or a synonym. This is the area where people vary most: some hearing-impaired people find rephrasing very frustrating, because they have to start over: when a sentence is repeated, they can put together the syllables or words they heard the first time with those in the repetition. When in doubt, ask "Should I repeat that exactly?"
- Reduce background noise by turning off the TV and radio, and closing windows. All of these can provide distractions that cause communication to break down completely. They also impede the perception of whatever auditory cues your friend is able to pick up and use.
- For small children learning to talk, use context to help them decipher what you are saying. (Additionally, some studies indicate that hearing impaired children who are allowed to lead conversation acquire speech much more successfully than those whose parents attempt to guide conversation for them.)
Quotation
- "Blindness cuts you off from things; deafness cuts you off from people." -- Helen Keller
External links
- Hearing Loss Web: A resource specifically for the hearing impaired, as opposed to the deaf.
- Association of Late-Deafened Adults: A website for the post-lingually deaf.
- National Assocation for the Deaf: A website for the Deaf.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Hearing impairment."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
DEAF | English | Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français | Language, Publishing & Graphic Arts |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: DeafSynonyms: deaf(p) (adj), indifferent(p) (adj), deafen (v). (additional references) |
| Antonym: hearing(a) (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Aphony | Adjective: aphonous, dumb, mute; deafmute, deaf and dumb; mum; tongue-tied; breathless, tongueless, voiceless, speechless, wordless; mute as a fish, mute as a stockfish, mute as a mackerel; silent; (taciturn); muzzled; inarticulate, inaudible. |
Inattention | Close one's eyes to, shut one's eyes to; pay no attention to; dismiss from one's thoughts, discard from one's thoughts, discharge from one's thoughts, dismiss from one's mind, discard from one's mind, discharge from one's mind; drop the subject, think no more of; set aside, turn aside, put aside; turn away from, turn one's attention from, turn a deaf ear to, turn one's back upon. |
Adjective: inattentive; unobservant, unmindful, heedless, unthinking, unheeding, undiscerning; inadvertent; mindless, regardless, respectless, listless; (indifferent); blind, deaf; bird-witted; hand over head; cursory, percursory; giddy-brained, scatter-brained, hare-brained; unreflective, unreflecting, ecervele; offhand; dizzy, muzzy, brainsick; giddy, giddy as a goose; wild, harum-scarum, rantipole, highflying; heedless, careless; (neglectful). | |
Incredulity | Verb: be incredulous; Adjective: distrust; (disbelieve); refuse to believe; shut one's eyes to, shut one's ears to; turn a deaf ear to; hold aloof, ignore, nullis jurare in verba magistri. |
Insensibility | Verb: be insensible; Adjective: have a rhinoceros hide; show insensibility; Noun: not mind, not care, not be affected by; have no desire for; have no interest in, feel no interest in, take no interest in; nil admirari; not care a straw; (unimportance) for; disregard; (neglect); set at naught; (make light of); turn a deaf ear to; (inattention); vegetate. |
Adjective: insensible, unconscious; impassive, impassible; blind to, deaf to, dead to; unsusceptible, insusceptible; unimpressionable, unimpressible; passionless, spiritless, heartless, soulless; unfeeling, unmoral. | |
Neglect | Slur over, skip over, jump over, slip over; pretermit, miss, skip, jump, omit, give the go-by to, push aside, pigeonhole, shelve, sink; table; ignore, shut one's eyes to, refuse to hear, turn a deaf ear to; leave out of one's calculation; not attend to; not mind; not trouble oneself about, not trouble one's head about, not trouble oneself with; forget; be caught napping; (not expect); leave a loose thread; let the grass grow under one's feet. |
Obstinacy | Arbitrary, dogmatic, positive, bigoted; prejudiced; creed-bound; prepossessed, infatuated; stiff-backed, stiff necked, stiff hearted; hard-mouthed, hidebound; unyielding; impervious, impracticable, inpersuasible; unpersuadable; intractable, untractable; incorrigible, deaf to advice, impervious to reason; crotchety. |
Refusal | Be deaf to; dismiss, turn a deaf ear to, turn one's back upon; set one's face against, discountenance, not hear of, have nothing to do with, wash one's hands of, stand aloof, forswear, set aside, cast behind one; not yield an inch; (obstinacy). |
Adjective: refusing; Verb: restive, restiff; recusant; uncomplying, unconsenting; not willing to hear of, deaf to. | |
Sullenness | Cross, crossgrained; perverse, wayward, humorsome; restiff, restive; cantankerous, intractable, exceptious, sinistrous, deaf to reason, unaccommodating, rusty, froward; cussed. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Deaf |
| English words defined with "deaf": act, act as, anaesthetic, anesthetic, Audiphone ♦ Dactylology, deaf as a post, deaf-and-dumb person, deafen, deaf-mute, Deve, Dunny ♦ finger alphabet, fingerspell ♦ gestural ♦ Hand language, hearing dog, Helen Adams Keller, Helen Keller ♦ Keller ♦ lipread ♦ manual alphabet, Microcoustic, mute ♦ Osteophone ♦ play, profoundly deaf ♦ sign, signed, sign-language, Sonifer, stone-deaf ♦ unhearing ♦ Word deafness. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "deaf": Deaf Adder, DOMMERER, Dying Sayings ♦ Fenella ♦ Helen Keller mode ♦ IMPROBABILITY, INTERPRETER, DEAF ♦ lyre ♦ Masaniello, May Meetings ♦ Panurge ♦ surdimutism ♦ TDD, Telecommunication Display Device, Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, Telephone Questionnaire Assistance, TOLLIBAN RIG, translator, deaf, TTD ♦ Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "deaf": Dumb. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I'm really deaf. (See No Evil, Hear No Evil; writing credit: Earl Barret; Arne Sultan) Actually, sir, he is deaf. (Major Payne; writing credit: Joe Connelly; Bob Mosher) Can't you find some blind deaf retard to take you to the movies so I can have one date (10 Things I Hate About You; writing credit: Karen McCullah Lutz; Kirsten Smith) And I'm not well deaf! (Angel; writing credit: Letícia Dornelles) He's deaf. (Doctor Dolittle; writing credit: Nat Mauldin) | |
Lyrics | Or screamed words to the deaf, (This Song: For The True And Passionate Lovers Of Music; performing artist: Shai) | |
Clever | Deaf College Opens Doors to Hearing (references; author: unknown) Kindness: A language the deaf can hear, the blind can see, and the mute can speak. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | A Deaf Burglar (1913) Star Spangled Banner by a Deaf Mute (1901) Deaf Mute Recitation (1901) Bach Was Deaf (2002) What the Deaf Man Heard (1997) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Periodicals | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | [A blind and deaf Chinese girl is learning to speak English] / WHO p. Credit: National Library of Medicine; photo by J. Morgenstern.. |  | [Chief dietitian uses sign language to converse with deaf employees]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | It sez here they're goin' to start Coolidge Deaf an' Dumb clubs all ... Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The deaf toll. How can you play a three-handed game of checkers?. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Alexander Graham Bell conducted a school for the deaf on the second floor of this building at 1234 16th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. between 1883 and 1885. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Missed!--A deaf looter at Galveston escapes temporarily a deserved fate. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Jacksonville, Ill. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | One of Max Sparks' children in their home near Long Lake, Wisconsin. This child is a deaf mute. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Deaf Smith County, Texas. "It is reliably estimated that not less than 40,000 families have moved away from the Great Plains drought area since 1930." From the report of the Great Plains Committee, 1936. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Alumni reunion, "Ladies' Group", Indiana State School for the Deaf, June 6, 1908, old Institution grounds named "Willard Park", May 29, 1908. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Deaf Aphabet - O" by Luis Alves Commentary: "Deaf Alphabet - One Hand --------------------------- Notice: You can use this image, but please send me an e-mail if you use it, I really like to know when and where it's used, thanks :-)." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Baruch (Benedict de) Spinoza | Music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good or bad to the deaf. |
Christian Nevell Bovee | Kindness is a language the dumb can speak and the deaf can hear and understand. |
Michel de Montaigne | A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband. |
Sir William Osler | Half of us are blind, few of us feel, and we are all deaf. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
US Declaration of Independence | 1776 | They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | Jane says that Colonel Campbell is a little deaf. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The Abbe Sicard Sister Simplice in a letter to the deaf mute, Massieu |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | They were wholly deaf to my arguments, or failed to perceive their force, and fell into a strain of invective that was irresistible |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The child becomes blind, deaf, and unable to swallow. (references) | |
People with US1 are profoundly deaf from birth and have severe balance problems. (references) | ||
Of those 20,000 born, 11,600 were deaf, 3,580 were blind, and 1,800 were mentally retarded. (references) | ||
Children | Sweden | Deaf children have the right to education in sign language. (references) |
Chad | Several local NGO's provide skills training to the deaf and blind. (references) | |
Israel and the occupied territories | A 1996 law extended disability assistance for deaf children from the age of 14 to maturity. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Belarus | On February 3, Leakadzia Vlasuk, director of the Brest region NGO, "Fellowship for the Deaf," opened the organization's assembly hall to a town meeting with Semyon Domash, one of the potential presidential candidates from the opposition. (references) |
Economic History | Nigeria | Nigerian commercial banks, previously deaf to copyright infringement issues, are slowly responding (under pressure) to the need to acquire licensed computer software for their operations. (references) |
Human Rights | Fiji | In August a soldier shot a disorderly, speargun-wielding man in the knee; the man was deaf and did not respond to an order to halt. (references) |
Women | Brunei | In September 2000, two members of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces were sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment and three strokes of the cane for the attempted molestation and sodomy of a 20-year-old deaf girl. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | LYRE, n. An ancient instrument of torture. The word is now used in a figurative sense to denote the poetic faculty, as in the following fiery lines of our great poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox: I sit astride Parnassus with my lyre, And pick with care the disobedient wire. That stupid shepherd lolling on his crook With deaf attention scarcely deigns to look. I bide my time, and it shall come at length, When, with a Titan's energy and strength, I'll grab a fistful of the strings, and O, The word shall suffer when I let them go! Farquharson Harris M |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Warren G. Harding | 1921-1923 | Our eyes never will be blind to a developing menace, our ears never deaf to the call of civilization. |
Harry S. Truman | 1945-1953 | We must learn constantly to turn deaf ears to them. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | But a shortsighted America will soon find its words falling on deaf ears all around the world. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Deaf" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Deaf" is used about 2,650 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 2,650 | 3,457 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "deaf": as deaf as a doorpost ♦ as deaf as a post ♦ be as deaf as a doorpost ♦ be deaf in one year ♦ be partially deaf ♦ become deaf ♦ born deaf ♦ deaf aid ♦ deaf and dumb ♦ Deaf and dumb alphabet ♦ deaf and dumb language ♦ deaf as a doorpost ♦ deaf as a post ♦ deaf in an ear ♦ deaf in one ear ♦ deaf mute ♦ deaf person ♦ Deaf Smith County ♦ deaf to ♦ grow deaf ♦ he turns a deaf ear ♦ preach to deaf ears ♦ profoundly deaf ♦ stone deaf ♦ strike deaf ♦ strike smb. deaf ♦ telecommunications Device for the Deaf ♦ the deaf ♦ tone deaf ♦ turn a deaf ear ♦ turn a deaf ear to. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "deaf": deaf-aid, deaf-aids, deaf-and-dumb, deaf-and-dumb person, deaf-and-stupid, deaf-blind, deaf-dumb, deaf-dumb person, deaf-hearing, deaf-loops, deaf-mute, deaf-muteness, deaf-mutes, Deaf-mutism, deaf-without-speech. | |
Ending with "deaf": born-deaf, tone-deaf. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
deaf | 700 | deaf news | 34 |
deaf technology | 249 | american school for the deaf | 34 |
deaf school | 159 | deaf history | 34 |
deaf culture | 157 | national association of the deaf | 33 |
deaf people picture | 135 | california school for the deaf | 32 |
dog for the deaf | 124 | deaf child | 32 |
deaf chat | 117 | deaf world | 30 |
deaf woman | 103 | deaf product | 28 |
famous deaf people | 90 | deaf interpreter | 28 |
deaf education | 63 | deaf song | 28 |
texas school for the deaf | 62 | registry of interpreter for the deaf | 27 |
deaf club | 56 | maryland school for the deaf | 27 |
deaf chat room | 51 | deaf pager | 27 |
deaf single | 47 | date deaf | 26 |
deaf people | 43 | deaf joke | 25 |
deaf and blind | 39 | deaf talk | 25 |
florida school for the deaf and the blind | 36 | deaf camp | 25 |
deaf job | 36 | phone for the deaf | 23 |
deaf college | 36 | deaf tone | 23 |
deaf community | 35 | training deaf dog | 23 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "deaf"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | doof. (various references) | |
Albanian | i shurdhër (sepulchral, unvoiced). (various references) | |
Arabic | متصام, أطرش, أصم (deafening, endocrine, irrational, prime, surd). (various references) | |
Basque | gor. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | глух (dead, dim, flat, hollow, impervious, inward, outlandish, tuneless), неотзивчив (impenetrable, impervious, insensate, insensible, irresponsive, un-co-operative, unhelpful, unresponsive), без ядка. (various references) | |
Chinese | 聾 , 聵 (born deaf), 聋 (Deafness). (various references) | |
Czech | hluchý (dead). (various references) | |
Danish | døv. (various references) | |
Dutch | doof. (various references) | |
Esperanto | surda. (various references) | |
Faeroese | dulur, deyvur. (various references) | |
Farsi | فاقدقوه شنوایی , کر (Choir). (various references) | |
Finnish | kuuro (shower). (various references) | |
French | sourd (deaf mute). (various references) | |
Frisian | dôf. (various references) | |
German | taub (dead, deafly, dull, empty, numb, unfruitful), schwerhörig (hard of hearing), gehörlos. (various references) | |
Greek | κωφόσ, κουφόσ, κουφός. (various references) | |
Hebrew | חרש (coppice, deaf person, secretly, silently, thicket), כבד שמיעה (hard of hearing). (various references) | |
Hungarian | süket (as deaf as a doorpost, as deaf as deaf, dim-witted, stone deaf, that's all hot air). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tunarungu, tuli, pekak, congek (inflamed). (various references) | |
Irish | bodhar. (various references) | |
Italian | sordo (deaf person, dull, hollow, impervious, voiceless). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 聾者 (deaf person), 聾唖者 (deaf person), 聾唖学校 (deaf and dumb school, school for the deaf), 聾唖 (deaf and dumb, deaf-mute, deafness), 聾学校 (deaf school), 聾 (deaf person, deafness), 金聾 (completely deaf), 馬耳東風 (praying to deaf ears, talking to the wall, utter indifference), 唖 (deaf-mute). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おし (audacity, authority, commanding presence, deaf-mute, illustration, miniature shrine in a temple, pressing down, pressure, push, showing in graphic form or by diagram, weight), ばじとうふう (praying to deaf ears, talking to the wall, utter indifference), つんぼ (deaf person, deafness), かなつんぼ (completely deaf), ろうがっこう (deaf school), ろうしゃ (deaf person), ろうあがっこう (deaf and dumb school, school for the deaf), ろうあしゃ (deaf person), ろうあ (deaf and dumb, deaf-mute, deafness), みみしい (deaf person, deafness). (various references) | |
Korean | 귀머거리. (various references) | |
Malay | tuli. (various references) | |
Manx | bouyr. (various references) | |
Norwegian | døv. (various references) | |
Occitan | sord. (various references) | |
Papiamen | sordo. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eafday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | surdo (hard of hearing, hollow, obtuse, sharp, surd). (various references) | |
Romanian | surd (dull, hidden, hollow, secret, sharp, smothered, unvoiced). (various references) | |
Russian | глухой (hollow, impervious, outlandish, surd, unvoiced, voiceless). (various references) | |
Scottish | bodhar (deaf person, deaf; also nm. g.v. -air; pl. -air). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | gluv (hard of hearing). (various references) | |
Spanish | sordo (dull, hollow, muffled, muted, surd, tone deaf). (various references) | |
Sranan | dofu. (various references) | |
Swedish | döv. (various references) | |
Turkish | duyarsız (hard-hearted, immune, insensible, insensitive, insentient, insusceptible, senseless, stolid, thick skin), dik başlı (contrary, Froward, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, obstinate, pig-headed, stubborn, wayward), sağir, sağır (as deaf as a doorpost, muted), kulak asmayan, ağır işiten (hard of hearing). (various references) | |
Turkmen | ker, gьс. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | що не бажає слухати, глухуватий (hard of hearing), глухнути, глухий (atonic, backwoods, noteless, obtuse, one horse, surd, unvoiced), оглушати (deafen), заглушати (damp, deafen, drown, muffle, narcotize, stifle). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | làm ngơ điếc đặc, điếc làm thinh. (various references) | |
Welsh | byddar (deaf person). (various references) | |
Yucatec | kook. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | surdae, surde, surdi, surdo, surdorum, surdos, surdum, surdus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Mark Chapter 7, Verse 32 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai ferousin autw kwfon mogilalon kai parakalousin auton ina epiqh autw thn ceira |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Et adducunt ei surdum et mutum et deprecantur eum ut inponat illi manum |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | & hyo lædden him ænne deafne & dumbne. & hine bæden. þt he his handon him asette. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And thei bryngen to hym a man deef and doumbe, and preieden hym to leye his hoond on hym. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And they brought vnto him one yt was deffe and stambred in his speche and prayde him to laye his honde apon him. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And they bring to him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And they came to him with one who had no power of hearing and had trouble in talking; and they made a request to him to put his hands on him. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Mark Chapter 7, Verse 32 |
| Cebuano | Ug kaniya ilang gidala ang usa ka tawo nga bungol ug may pagkaamang; ug ilang gihangyo si Jesus nga unta itapion niya ang iyang kamot diha kaniya. |
| Croatian | Donesu mu nekoga gluhog mucavca pa ga zamole da stavi na nj ruku. |
| Danish | Og de bringe ham en døv, som også vanskeligt kunde tale, og bede ham om, at han vilde lægge Hånden på ham. |
| Dutch | En zij brachten tot Hem een dove, die zwaarlijk sprak, en baden Hem, dat Hij de hand op hem legde. |
| Finnish | Ja hänen tykönsä tuotiin kuuro, joka oli melkein mykkä, ja he pyysivät häntä panemaan kätensä hänen päälleen. |
| French | On lui amena un sourd, qui avait de la difficulté à parler, et on le pria de lui imposer les mains. |
| Gaelic | Agus thug iad ga ionnsuidh duine bodhar is balbh, agus ghuidh iad air, gun cuireadh e a lamh air. |
| German | Und sie brachten zu ihm einen Tauben, der stumm war, und sie baten ihn, daß er die Hand auf ihn legte. |
| Haitian Creole | Yo mennen yon nonm ba li: nonm lan te soudè epi li pa t' pale byen. Yo mande Jezi pou li mete men l' sou tèt nonm lan. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Di situ orang membawa kepada-Nya seorang yang bisu tuli. Mereka minta Yesus meletakkan tangan-Nya ke atas orang itu. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka dibawa oranglah kepada-Nya seorang tuli yang gagap, lalu dipintanya Yesus meletakkan tangan ke atasnya. |
| Italian | E gli condussero un sordomuto, pregandolo di imporgli la mano. |
| Maori | Na ka mauria mai ki a ia he turi e whango ana; ka tohe ki a ia kia whakapakia iho tona ringa ki a ia. |
| Norwegian | Og de førte til ham en mann som var døv og hadde ondt for å tale, og de bad ham legge sin hånd på ham. |
| Portuguese | E trouxeram-lhe um surdo, que falava dificilmente; e rogaram-lhe que pusesse a mão sobre ele. |
| Rumanian | I-au adus un surd, care vorbea cu anevoie, wi L-au rugat sq-Wi punq mknile peste el. |
| Russian | рТЙЧЕМЙ Л оЕНХ ЗМХИПЗП ЛПУОПСЪЩЮОПЗП Й РТПУЙМЙ еЗП ЧПЪМПЦЙФШ ОБ ОЕЗП ТХЛХ. |
| Shuar | Nui chichachu ámiayi, kuishin empeku. Nu Shuáran Jesusan itiariar, ni uwejejai antinkiat tusar seawarmiayi. |
| Spanish | Entonces le trajeron un sordo y tartamudo, y le rogaron que le pusiera la mano encima. |
| Swahili | Basi, wakamletea bubu-kiziwi, wakamwomba amwekee mikono. |
| Swedish | Och man förde till honom en som var döv och nästan stum och bad honom att lägga handen på denne. |
| Uma | Hi ree, ria to mpokeni hadua tauna to wongo pai' to neo' uma howa' mololita. Merapi' -ra bona najama-i-hawo. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "deaf": deafen, deafened, deafening, deafeningly, deafens, deafer, deafest, deafish, deafly, deafness, deafnesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "deaf": semideaf. (additional references) | |
Words containing "deaf": bedeafen, bedeafened, bedeafening, bedeafens. (additional references) | |
| |
"Deaf" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: daf, dafi, dea, Deac, deafs, deaft, deah, deak, Deap, deat, deau, deav, deaz, deeah, deef, defat, Defb, deff, Defu, delf, diab, difa, doaf, doef, Doeuff, doif, dosaaf, douf, dowf, draf, draff, dreff, dufa, eaf, eda, edae, edap, edax, Edcf, geaf, Idbf, teaf, Udeac, zeaf. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "deaf" (pronounced de"f) |
| 2 | -e" f | chef, clef, ref. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: fade. | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-f" | |
-1 letter: fad, fed. | |
-2 letters: ad, ae, de, ed, ef, fa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-f" | |
+1 letter: decaf, defat, faced, faded, fader, fades, fadge, faked, famed, fared, fated, faxed, fayed, fazed. | |
+2 letters: afeard, afield, baffed, barfed, chafed, daffed, dafter, deafen, deafer, deafly, decafs, deface, defame, defang, defats, defeat, deflea, defoam, defray, fabled, facade, fadein, faders, fadged, fadges, fagged, failed, faired, fanged, fanned, farced, farded, fardel, farmed, fashed, fasted, fatted, fawned, feared, feased, feazed, fedora, feudal, flaked, flamed, flared, flawed, flayed, foaled, foamed, framed, frayed, gaffed, hafted, leafed, loafed, malfed, rafted, waffed, wafted, waifed, yaffed. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Quotations: Speeches 14. Usage Frequency 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Translations: Ancient 19. Bible Trace 20. Abbreviations | 21. Acronyms 22. Derivations 23. Rhymes 24. Anagrams | 25. Bibliography |
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