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.
The word つんぼ often appears in old novels.
The idiom つんぼ桟敷 means being left out of the loop.
completely deaf
Kanji form; may be considered insensitive in modern usage.
Kana spelling; often used when the word appears in historical or metalinguistic contexts.
The exact derivation is uncertain; the kanji 聾 is conventionally associated with deafness.