hunchbacks
Curved spine sufferers
Hunchbacks is the plural of hunchback, a person with a pronounced curvature of the upper spine causing a rounded or humped back.
The term is now considered offensive; medical contexts prefer kyphosis for the condition.
The word evokes literary figures like Quasimodo from *The Hunchback of Notre-Dame*: The cathedral's famous fictional bell-ringer is among literature's most sympathetic hunchbacks.
Hunched back condition
- spinal curvatureAbnormal bend in backbone
- stoopedBent body forward
- bentCurved; also dishonest
- crookedBent or dishonest
deformity · posture · rounded shoulders · hump · vertebrae · spine · dowager's hump · skeletal
Fictional deformed cathedral bellringer
- Notre-DameMedieval Parisian Gothic cathedral
- Victor HugoFrench nineteenth-century novelist
- RigolettoOpera about vengeful entertainer
- Richard IIIFinal Yorkist king
grotesque · outcast · tragic · bell tower · cathedral · gargoyle · misunderstood · isolation
Malicious folklore creature
- dwarfDiminutive folkloric being
- trollDeliberate online antagonist
- changelingSubstituted fairy child
- cursedUnder a malevolent spell
superstition · witch · spell · omen · fairy tale · misfortune · medieval · stigma
Shelter from persecution
- freak showExhibition of human oddities
- circusTraveling entertainment with performers
- sideshowSecondary carnival attraction
- exploitationSelfish use of others
disability · institutionalization · cruelty · mockery · medieval · ridicule · beggar · charity
kyphosis
Hunched back condition
- spinal curvatureAbnormal bend in backbone
- stoopedBent body forward
- bentCurved; also dishonest
crooked · deformity · posture · rounded shoulders · hump · vertebrae · spine · dowager's hump · skeletal · orthopedic
Quasimodo
Fictional deformed cathedral bellringer
- Notre-DameMedieval Parisian Gothic cathedral
- Victor HugoFrench nineteenth-century novelist
- RigolettoOpera about vengeful entertainer
Richard III · grotesque · outcast · tragic · bell tower · cathedral · gargoyle · misunderstood · isolation · persecution
goblin
Malicious folklore creature
- dwarfDiminutive folkloric being
- trollDeliberate online antagonist
- changelingSubstituted fairy child
cursed · superstition · witch · spell · omen · fairy tale · misfortune · medieval · stigma · shunned
asylum
Shelter from persecution
- freak showExhibition of human oddities
- circusTraveling entertainment with performers
- sideshowSecondary carnival attraction
exploitation · disability · institutionalization · cruelty · mockery · medieval · ridicule · beggar · charity · pity
- grotesquesgargoyles, grotesques, demons, chimeras, hybrid creatures
hunchbackserect posture
Body held vertically straight
ramrod-straight · swaybacks · unbent · ballet dancers · models
hunchbacksAdonises
Extremely attractive men
beauties · Greek gods · matinee idols · romantic heroes · Prince Charmings
- The HunchbackCurved-spine recluse