Lingua Flowing
French idioms

What does “Faire la sourde oreille” mean?

FrenchBody partsNeutral

Faire la sourde oreille

Word for word

To make the deaf ear

What it really means

To pretend not to have heard so as to avoid answering or acting. Widely used for requests, reminders and complaints that go ignored.

How we say it in English

To turn a deaf ear

Want to see this idiom used in a sentence, and where it comes from?

Create a free account to see “Faire la sourde oreille” in a real sentence (with audio), where it comes from, and to share the card. No card required.

Create a free account