pigeon-breasted

/'pidʤin,brestid/
Học thuật
Thân thiện
Definition
  1. Adjective:
    • Having a chest deformity characterized by a projecting breastbone: This medical term describes a condition where the sternum (breastbone) protrudes outward, creating a convex shape to the chest wall. It is historically associated with infantile rickets, a disease caused by vitamin D deficiency.
Usage Examples
  • Adjective:
    • The old medical text described the child as pigeon-breasted due to severe malnutrition.
    • While rare today, a pigeon-breasted appearance was once a common sign of childhood rickets.
Advanced Usage
  • The term is primarily used in historical or medical contexts to describe a specific physical manifestation of a nutritional disease. In modern clinical language, the condition is more precisely referred to as "pectus carinatum" or a "keel chest," though "pigeon-breasted" remains a descriptive lay term.
Variants and Related Words
  • Pectus carinatum (n): The formal medical term for a chest deformity where the breastbone and ribs are pushed outward.
  • Keel chest (n): Another descriptive term for the same condition, comparing the chest's shape to the keel of a boat.
  • Rickets (n): The disease of defective bone mineralization in children, often linked to vitamin D deficiency, which can cause bone deformities including a pigeon-breasted appearance.
Synonyms
  • Protruding-chested: Having a chest that sticks out.
  • (Having a) Keel chest: Describing the same chest deformity.
Antonyms
  • Pectus excavatum: A condition where the breastbone is sunken into the chest (funnel chest).
  • Flat-chested: Having a chest that is not projecting.
Notes on Meaning
  • The term is a compound adjective directly comparing the shape of the human chest to the prominent breast of a pigeon. Its usage is almost exclusively descriptive of a physical condition and is not used idiomatically. It carries no positive connotation and is a clinical descriptor of a deformity.
Adjective
  1. having a chest deformity marked by a projecting breastbone caused by infantile rickets

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