耳(みみ)が遠(とお)い

みみがとおい
expression
hard of hearing
idiombody-parthealth
1. hard of hearing; unable to hear well
Set phrase describing someone whose hearing has weakened, typically with age. Literally 'the ears are far'. It is the ordinary, unmarked way to say this in Japanese and is not itself impolite, though it is usually said of another person rather than to them.
祖母(そぼ)は耳(みみ)が遠(とお)い。
My grandmother is hard of hearing.
耳(みみ)が遠(とお)いので、大(おお)きな声(こえ)で話(はな)してください。
I don't hear well, so please speak up.
年(とし)を取(と)って耳(みみ)が遠(とお)くなってきた。
My hearing has been going as I get older.
父(ちち)は耳(みみ)が遠(とお)いふりをして、都合(つごう)の悪(わる)い話(はなし)を聞(き)き流(なが)す。
My father pretends to be hard of hearing and lets inconvenient topics pass right by.

The 〜が遠(とお)い pattern treats a dulled sense as distance. It conjugates as an i-adjective phrase: 耳(みみ)が遠(とお)くなる (to grow hard of hearing), 耳(みみ)が遠(とお)かった (was hard of hearing).

Common collocations

Similar words

Related Words

Compare: 耳(みみ)が痛(いた)い (it hurts to hear)
Compare: 難聴(なんちょう) (hearing loss)
general
Added 2026.8.31 21:32 · Revised 2026.9.4 21:31
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