聋 (lóng): deaf

聋 (lóng) is a Chinese character meaning “deaf.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 龙 (phonetic) and 耳 (semantic). It ranks #2678 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 聋 ear. Its radical form 耳 (ear) appears in many related characters such as 闻 (wén, to hear, to smell), 职 (zhí, job, duty), 联 (lián, connect, unite).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. deaf

Etymology & Origin

聋

pictophoneticear

Decomposition: ⿱龙耳 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Practice writing 聋 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
聋子nounlóng zideaf person
震耳欲聋phrasezhèn ěr yù lóngear-splitting (idiom)
聋哑人nounlóng yǎ réna deaf and mute person
耳聋adjectiveěr lóngdeaf
聋哑adjectivelóng yǎdeaf and nonverbal
装聋作哑phrasezhuāng lóng zuò yǎto play deaf-mute
振聋发聩phrasezhèn lóng fā kuìlit. so loud that even the deaf can hear (idiom)
聋人nounlóng réndeaf person
发聋振聩fā lóng zhèn kuìlit. so loud that even the deaf can hear (idiom)
眼瞎耳聋yǎn xiā ěr lóngto be deaf and blind (idiom)
震聋zhèn lóngto deafen
聋胞lóng bāohearing impaired person (Tw)
聋聩adjectivelóng kuìdeaf
13
Total compounds
46
As first character
31
As last character
23
As middle character

聋 appears in 13 compound words: 46 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 23 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 聋 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

哑yǎ
0.745698 co-occurrences
耳ěr
0.541370 co-occurrences
盲máng
0.519124 co-occurrences
震zhèn
0.40885 co-occurrences
欲yù
0.38060 co-occurrences
篮lán
0.36724 co-occurrences
聪cōng
0.35712 co-occurrences
人rén
0.3521,176 co-occurrences
儿ér
0.35282 co-occurrences
校xiào
0.345232 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

震耳欲聋zhèn'ěryùlóngHSK 7+

deafening; earsplitting

phrase
装聋作哑zhuānglóngzuòyǎHSK 7+

to pretend to not know; to deliberately to not ask or listen

phrase
发聋振聩fā lóng zhèn kuìHSK 7+

lit. so loud that even the deaf can hear (idiom); rousing even the apathetic

phrase
振聋发聩zhènlóngfākuìHSK 7+

to rouse the deaf and awaken the unhearing; to awaken the deaf; to enlighten the benighted

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

长时间听 loud 音乐可能会损伤听力,甚至导致耳聋。

Cháng shíjiān tīng loud yīnyuè kěnéng huì sǔnshāng tīnglì, shènzhì dǎozhì ěrlóng.

Listening to loud music for long periods may damage hearing and even cause deafness.

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

终场哨响,全场观众起立欢呼,掌声与呐喊声震耳欲聋。

zhōng chǎng shào xiǎng , quán chǎng guàn zhòng qǐ lì huān hū , zhǎng shēng yǔ nà hǎn shēng zhèn ěr yù lóng .

As the final whistle blew, the entire crowd rose to their feet in cheers, and the applause and shouts were deafening.

爱范儿May 2026

房间里没有声音,却震耳欲聋。

fáng jiān lǐ méi yǒu shēng yīn , què zhèn ěr yù lóng .

The room was silent, yet the silence was deafening.

中国新闻网·健康Mar 2026

再就是突发性耳聋,这在年轻人当中非常多,典型症状是单侧耳鸣。

zài jiù shì tū fā xìng ěr lóng , zhè zài nián qīng rén dāng zhōng fēi cháng duō , diǎn xíng zhèng zhuàng shì dān cè ěr míng .

Another condition is sudden hearing loss, which is very common among young people; the typical symptom is tinnitus in one ear.

中国新闻网·健康Mar 2026

再就是突发性耳聋,这是现在年轻人当中非常多的,典型的症状就是单侧的耳鸣。

zài jiù shì tū fā xìng ěr lóng , zhè shì xiàn zài nián qīng rén dāng zhōng fēi cháng duō de , diǎn xíng de zhèng zhuàng jiù shì dān cè de ěr míng .

Another condition is sudden hearing loss, which is very common among young people today; the typical symptom is tinnitus in one ear.

NewsFeb 2026

放鞭炮放成爆震性耳聋 专家提醒:一次巨响就能造成不可逆损伤

fàng biān pào fàng chéng bào zhèn xìng ěr lóng zhuān jiā tí xǐng yī cì jù xiǎng jiù néng zào chéng bù kě nì sǔn shāng

Firecrackers are set off as knocking deafness Experts remind: A loud noise can cause irreversible damage

Tatoeba

海伦凯勒眼盲,耳聋,又哑。

Hǎilún kǎi lè yǎn máng, ěrlóng, yòu yā.

Helen Keller was blind, deaf and dumb.

Tatoeba

海伦·凯勒眼盲、耳聋并且不能说话。

Hǎilún · kǎi lè yǎn máng, ěrlóng bìngqiě bù néng shuōhuà.

Helen Keller was blind, deaf and mute.

Tatoeba

聋哑的人用手语说话。

Lóngyǎ de rén yòng shǒuyǔ shuōhuà.

Deaf-mute people talk using sign language.

Tatoeba

善良是聋子能听盲人能看的语言。

Shànliáng shì lóngzi néng tīng mángrén néng kàn de yǔyán.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 耳 (ear) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced lóng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 聋 (lóng) mean in Chinese?
聋 (lóng) primarily means "deaf." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2678 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 聋 and 宠?
聋 (lóng) and 宠 (chǒng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 耳 vs 宀 (same 龙 component).
How many strokes does 聋 have?
聋 is written with 11 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 聋?
The radical associated with 聋 is 耳 (ear). This radical appears in many characters related to ear.
What are the components of 聋?
聋 is composed of: 龙 (phonetic), 耳 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱龙耳 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 聋?
Common words with 聋 include: 聋子 (lóng zi, "deaf person"); 震耳欲聋 (zhèn ěr yù lóng, "ear-splitting (idiom)"); 聋哑人 (lóng yǎ rén, "a deaf and mute person"); 耳聋 (ěr lóng, "deaf"); 聋哑 (lóng yǎ, "deaf and nonverbal"). There are over 13 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 聋 (lóng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lóng: 笼 (enclosing frame made of bamboo, wire etc), 拢 (to gather together), 咙 (used in 喉嚨|喉咙), 垄 (ridge between fields), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 聋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 聋 and the traditional form is 聾.

Practice writing 聋 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.