聋

• Pinyin: lóng
• Hanzi breakdown: 聋 = 龙 (phonetic: lóng) + 耳 (ear — indicates the ear is impaired)

Meaning

Deaf; unable to hear. Describes the absence or significant impairment of hearing ability.

Used medically and colloquially. Can appear in compound words like 聋哑 (deaf-mute) and 聋人 (deaf person). Also used metaphorically: 装聋作哑 means to feign ignorance or play dumb. Increasingly, disability-aware language prefers person-first or neutral terms.

Examples

1. 他因幼年时高烧引发了严重的听力损伤，导致双耳近乎全聋。 A severe fever in childhood caused serious hearing damage, leaving him almost completely deaf in both ears.
2. 那位聋哑艺术家用手语和肢体表达情感，创作出令观众动容的舞台作品。 The deaf artist used sign language and physical expression to convey emotion, creating stage works that deeply moved the audience.
3. 他对批评充耳不闻，仿佛装聋作哑，令同事们深感无奈。 He ignored the criticism as if pretending not to hear or respond, leaving his colleagues deeply frustrated.

Usage Guide

Context: medical, disability, idiom

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 学校为聋生开设了手语课程，帮助他们更好地与外界沟通。(The school offers sign language courses for deaf students to help them communicate better with the outside world.)
• 他装聋作哑，对领导的询问一言不发，明显是在刻意回避责任。(He feigned ignorance and said nothing in response to his supervisor's questions, clearly trying to evade responsibility.)

Don't Say

• 随意将聋用于调侃他人 — 聋 refers to a genuine medical condition; using it casually as an insult is disrespectful (Don't use 聋 casually to mock someone — it refers to a real medical condition and using it as an insult is disrespectful)

Origin & History

聋 = 龙 (phonetic component: lóng) + 耳 (ear) — the semantic component 耳 indicates the impaired organ.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal