deaf

英 [def] 美[d?f]

CET4TEM4IELTS考研CET6中低頻詞核心詞匯

比較級:?deafer;最高級:?deafest;名詞:?deafness;

deaf...........呆夫（發呆，沒聽見）....聾的;裝聾的

deaf 聾的

來自PIE*dheubh, 混亂，模糊，詞源同dumb, dull.引申義聾的。

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.: 他對美國提出的行動要求完全不理不睬。

4. The provincial assembly were deaf to all pleas for financial help.: 省議會對所有的經濟救助請求都充耳不聞。

5. Many deaf people have feelings of isolation and loneliness.: 很多失聰者都有孤獨無助的感覺。