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PlainSpell

deaf

/diːf/adjective, noun

deaf is spelled D-E-A-F: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “deaf vs def” about 10 times a month (Bing, United States). As an adjective, deaf means “Unable (or partially able) to hear” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in deaf?

Letters4: D-E-A-F
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.8 times per million words; the 7,224th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is deaf?

Deaf appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce deaf?

  • /dɛf/
  • US /diːf/
  • /dɛːf/

Deaf has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-deaf.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with deaf

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

deaf vs def10 B
deaf vs death0 B

Sounds like: def (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with deaf?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as deaf from its last stressed vowel (/if/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: fade.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of deaf

  • deafer comparative
  • deafest superlative
  • deafs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • deafing participle, present
  • deafed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does deaf mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Unable (or partially able) to hear.

    My brother has been deaf since sustaining injuries in the war.

  2. 2

    Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive.

    Those people are deaf to reason.

  3. 3

    Of or relating to the community of deaf people.

  4. 4

    obsoleteObscurely heard; stifled; deadened.

  5. 5

    UKobsoleteDecayed; tasteless; useless.

    a deaf nut; deaf corn

adjective

as Deaf
  1. 1

    Of or relating to the culture surrounding deaf users of sign languages.

noun

  1. 1

    nonstandardrareA deaf person.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo deafen.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Deaf in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsourd (unable to hear), les sourds (unable to hear, used as a substantive: deaf…)
Germantaub, gehörlos (unable to hear), die Gehörlosen, die Tauben (unable to hear, used as a substantive: deaf…)
Portuguesesurdo, mouco (unable to hear), surdos (unable to hear, used as a substantive: deaf…)
Spanishsordo (unable to hear), sordos, sordas (unable to hear, used as a substantive: deaf…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does deaf come from?

From Middle English def, deef, from Old English dēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *daub (“deaf”), from Proto-Germanic *daubaz (“deaf or stunned”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τυφλός (tuphlós, “blind”). See also dumb. Doublet of daff, dof, and dowf.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after deaf