hunchback C2 Topic:Health & Medicine US /ˈhʌntʃ.bæk/ UK /ˈhʌntʃ.bæk/ See IPA manual Freq #20466 Meanings 1 noun a dated and potentially offensive term for a person with a markedly hunched back or kyphosis The nineteenth-century novel calls the stooped character a hunchback, a label now considered offensive. 2 noun a pronounced outward curvature or hump of the upper back; now usually described as kyphosis The old medical text used hunchback for a spinal curvature now diagnosed more precisely as kyphosis. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a dated and potentially... humpback 2 noun · a pronounced outward... kyphosishumpback Word family Forms hunchback’s Derived forms hunchbacked Related forms hunchkyphosisspine Etymology A back-formation from hunchbacked, itself formed from hunch + back. Hunch developed a noun sense for a rounded projection or hump before the compound became a label for a person. Topics Health & Medicine External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # hunchback **Type:** Word **Level:** C2 **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈhʌntʃ.bæk/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈhʌntʃ.bæk/ **Frequency rank:** 20466 ## Meanings 1. a dated and potentially offensive term for a person with a markedly hunched back or kyphosis 2. a pronounced outward curvature or hump of the upper back; now usually described as kyphosis ## Examples - The nineteenth-century novel calls the stooped character a hunchback, a label now considered offensive. - The old medical text used hunchback for a spinal curvature now diagnosed more precisely as kyphosis. ## Synonyms - humpback ## Derived Forms - hunchbacked ## Related Forms - hunch - kyphosis - spine ## Etymology A back-formation from hunchbacked, itself formed from hunch + back. Hunch developed a noun sense for a rounded projection or hump before the compound became a label for a person. ## Topics - Health & Medicine markdown