Sumain

S1U1M3A1I1N1

noun

Someone who communicates primarily using a sign language.

Scrabble 8

Meanings

nounSumain (plural Sumains)

plural Sumains

  1. neologismuncommonDeaf culture; sign language; Deaf culture; sign languageSomeone who communicates primarily using a sign language.
    3 more examples

    Growing up I lived as "passing as a hearing-identified person" who was taught the English language through speech training. Upon discovery of ASL and the DEAF-WORLD, the ease of conversations changed my life. Nowadays, I'm a Sumain; "a coined word from two languages - Su - your; main - hands which as a group connect with each other using our hands."

    2015 January 9, Marla Berkowitz, quotee, “A Conversation with Marla Berkowitz, ASL Senior Lecturer”, in OSU Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2023

    I would love, love (but doubt) to see this video go into a really, actually diverse set of cultures. I want to see how human psych and understandings can be seen through a Haudenosaunee lens, through an Inuit lens, through a Viittomakielinen lens, through a Sumain lens, through a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh lens, through... beyond language/culture (which shapes humans so deeply), also traumas inflicted I would be curious to see about.

    2018 May 15, “An Open Letter of things I must say”, in Reddit, r/kurzgesagt

    There were no respondents who identified as DeafDisabled, although one participant in their "other" comment mentioned that they had an additional disability, but felt it was "a less prominent factor." Eight respondents used the "other" option to list their hearing identification; visually impaired (hearing), CODA (Children of Deaf Adults; 2 respondents), TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury] survivor, Sumain, hard of hearing and Deaf, DeafBlind disabled, not sure yet, and maybe deaf.

    2019 December 27, Kimberly K. Pudans-Smith, Katrina R. Cue, Ju-Lee A. Wolsey, M. Diane Clark, “To Deaf or not to deaf: That is the Question”, in Psychology, volume 10, number 15, Irvine, C.A.: Scientific Research Publishing, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2097

Origin

  1. Frenchmain“hand”
  2. Spanishsu“your”
  3. EnglishSumain

From Spanish su (“your”) + French main (“hand”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Sumain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sumain

MLA

“Sumain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sumain. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Sumain,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sumain.

Source: Sumain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.