Copyright © 2026 Kotomora. All Rights Reserved.
聾 (つんぼ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Freq. Frequency Top 100,000 Meanings 1
noun
deafness ; deaf person
sensitive
Historically used for deafness or a deaf person, but now widely considered derogatory and replaced by terms like 聴覚障害者 or ろう者. Still encountered in older literature and fixed expressions.
Written forms 聾つんぼ
Kanji form; may be considered insensitive in modern usage.
ツンボ Usage 60%
つんぼ Usage 40%
Kana spelling; often used when the word appears in historical or metalinguistic contexts.
Kanji 聾 deafness, deaf person, deafen は
、
情じょう
報ほう
から
取と
り
残のこ
さ
れる
こと
を
意い
味み
する
。
The idiom つんぼ桟敷 means being left out of the loop.
聴ちょう 覚かく 障しょう 害がい 者しゃ Modern, neutral term for a person with hearing impairment; preferred over つんぼ.
ろう 者しゃ Commonly used term within the Deaf community; culturally appropriate.
Etymology The exact derivation is uncertain; the kanji 聾 is conventionally associated with deafness.
