充耳不闻 (chōng ěr bù wén) — to turn a deaf ear to; to deliberately ignore (…

Definition

A chengyu meaning 'to turn a deaf ear to' — describes deliberately ignoring what someone says, usually criticism or advice.

idiom

to turn a deaf ear toto deliberately ignore (what is said)

充耳不闻。
Tā duì wǒ de jiàn yì chōng ěr bù wén.
He turned a deaf ear to my suggestion.
，充耳不闻。
Duì yú zhè xiē pī píng, tā chōng ěr bù wén.
He turned a deaf ear to these criticisms.
充耳不闻，。
Lǎo shī de huà tā chōng ěr bù wén, jié guǒ kǎo shì bù jí gé.
He turned a deaf ear to the teacher's words, and as a result failed the exam.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

𠫓儿充

充 pairs 𠫓, a newborn, with 儿, a standing person, to picture a newborn growing to stand.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

耳 is drawn as a picture of an ear.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 聞; 闻 is its simplified writing.

門耳聞

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

門

門mén聞wén

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 聞, 門 supplies the sound and 耳 is an ear; this explanation is about 聞, not the simplified 闻.

Appears in