cock a deaf 'un
/ˌkɒk ə ˈdɛf ən/
"cock-a-deaf-un" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cock a deaf 'un” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To turn a deaf ear; to refuse to listen, or pretend not to have heard.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cock a deaf 'un |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌkɒk ə ˈdɛf ən/ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cock a deaf 'un” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cock a deaf 'un is 15 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌkɒk ə ˈdɛf ən/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To turn a deaf ear; to refuse to listen, or pretend not to have heard.".
Zero misspellings are on record for cock a deaf 'un in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is cock a deaf 'un, spelled C-O-C-K- -A- -D-E-A-F- -'-U-N.
Definition
- 1To turn a deaf ear; to refuse to listen, or pretend not to have heard.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “cock a deaf 'un”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-C-K- -A- -D-E-A-F- -'-U-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌkɒk ə ˈdɛf ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.