deaf

Pronunciation

• IPA: /def/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English dēaf (about 750, in Cynewulf's Juliana),^[2][3][4] from *daubaz,^[2][3][4] cognate with Dutch doof, German taub, Old Norse daufr and Gothic daufs, unperceptive.^[2][3][4] It goes back to an Indo-European base meaning dark or dulled, also seen in Ancient Greek τυφλός (tuphlós), blind, and Old Irish dub, black;^[2][4][5] the ancestor probably referred to a general dullness of perception rather than any one sense.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lacking or defective in hearing: about 825 in the OED;^[7] in Old English also empty, barren.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Refusing to listen is from about 1200,^[3] and the noun use, deaf people, from about 1200 in Etymonline.^[3] As deaf as an adder is from Psalm 58,^[3][6] and as deaf as a post from the mid-16th century.^[6] The word rhymed with reef until the 18th century,^[3][4] a pronunciation that survives widely in dialect and in the United States.^[4] Deafen is from 1597, in Shakespeare,^[2] and deaf-mute from 1837, after French sourd-muet.^[3] The capitalized Deaf refers to the community of deaf people with its own culture and sign language.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 750 – dēaf.^[2]
• c. 1200 – refusing to listen.^[3]
• mid-16th century – as deaf as a post.^[6]
• 1597 – deafen.^[2]
• 1837 – deaf-mute.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Partly or completely unable to hear.
2. Unwilling to listen; heedless: deaf to their cries.
3. Of or relating to Deaf people and their culture.

Noun

1. the deaf: deaf people as a group.

Word family

• deafly
• deafness
• deafish
• deaf-mute
• deafen
• deaf-blind
• stone-deaf
• tone-deaf

Related words

• dumb

Usage notes

Collins notes that the deaf as a collective noun is often thought offensive, and phrases such as deaf people are preferred.^[9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins