耳背 (ěr bēi) — hard of hearing (colloquial) | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Colloquial way to say someone is hard of hearing, usually because of age. Use it about a person, not as a clinical term.

adjective

hard of hearing (colloquial)

Examples

，耳背。
Tā nián jì dà le, yǒu diǎn ěr bēi.
He is old and a bit hard of hearing.
耳背，。
Yé ye ěr bēi, nǐ shuō huà dà shēng yì diǎn.
Grandpa is hard of hearing, speak a bit louder.
耳背，。
Wǒ zuì jìn ěr bēi, zǒng shì tīng bù qīng bié rén shuō huà.
I've been hard of hearing lately, I often can't hear others clearly.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

耳 names the ear and 背 describes it as dull, yielding hard of hearing.

Characters in this word

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.

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

北月背

Meaning part形符xíngfú

月Written in full as肉ròumeat

Sound part声符shēngfú

北

北běi背bèi

Same sound today

背 was first written as 北; 北 gives the sound, and 肉 (meat, written as 月 here) was added to separate it from 北’s north meaning.

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