Surdity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of being unable to hear ; an obsolete term for something ridiculous or foolish
2. Partial or total loss of hearing ; a rare old word for nonsensical behaviour or an absurd idea
3. The state of being deaf ; a dated sense meaning folly, senselessness or something plainly unreasonable

Etymology: Surdity is the state of being deaf, or deafness itself, and its history runs through a single Latin adjective. The English adjective "surd" meant deaf, and it came from Latin "surdus," which carried the same sense and was used both literally and, in Latin writers' hands, of people who would not listen. Adding the suffix "-ity," which turns adjectives into nouns of state or quality, produced "surdity." The Latin source behind it is "surditas," meaning deafness, so the English noun was built on a Latin noun that already named the condition. Because the adjective "surd" also gave rise to a separate sense in mathematics, readers often meet the two together, but "surdity" belongs only to the older meaning of deafness. The word is therefore a neat example of an English noun formed from a plain adjective plus a productive suffix, with its meaning fixed by the sense of the root.

Synonyms: deafness, absurdity

Antonyms: hearing