deaf

英 [def] 美[dɛf]

比较级: deafer;最高级: deafest;名词: deafness;

deaf...........呆夫（发呆，没听见）....聋的;装聋的

deaf 聋的

来自PIE*dheubh, 混乱，模糊，词源同dumb, dull.引申义聋的。

deaf: deaf: [OE] Ultimately, deaf and dumb come from the same source, and moreover they are related to a Greek word for ‘blind’. The common denominator ‘sensory or mental impairment’ goes back to an Indo-European base *dheubh-, which denoted ‘confusion, stupefaction, dizziness’. It produced Greek tuphlós ‘blind’; English dumb; and a prehistoric Germanic adjective *daubaz ‘dull, stupefied, slow’.

Many of the modern descendants of *daubaz retain this general sense – Danish doven means ‘lazy’ – but English has specialized it to ‘dull in hearing’. Duffer may ultimately be derived from Old Norse daufr ‘deaf’ in which the sense ‘dull, stupid’ is preserved.
=> duffer, dumb
deaf (adj.): Old English deaf "deaf," also "empty, barren," specialized from Proto-Germanic *daubaz (cognates: Old Saxon dof, Old Norse daufr, Old Frisian daf, Dutch doof "deaf," German taub, Gothic daufs "deaf, insensate"), from PIE dheubh-, which was used to form words meaning "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness" (cognates: Greek typhlos "blind," typhein "to make smoke;" Old English dumb "unable to speak;" Old High German tumb).

The word was pronounced to rhyme with reef until 18c. Deaf-mute is from 1837, after French sourd-muet. Deaf-mutes were sought after in 18c.-19c. Britain as fortune-tellers. Deaf as an adder (Old English) is from Psalms lviii:5.

2. He has turned a resolutely deaf ear to American demands for action.: 他对美国提出的行动要求完全不理不睬。

4. The provincial assembly were deaf to all pleas for financial help.: 省议会对所有的经济救助请求都充耳不闻。

5. Many deaf people have feelings of isolation and loneliness.: 很多失聪者都有孤独无助的感觉。