Dwarfism

Dwarfism refers to a condition of extreme small size of a person, animal, or plant. Any type of marked human smallness could be termed dwarfism in older popular and medical usage. Currently, in both general and technical usage, the term as related to human beings (the major subject of this article) is restricted to those forms of extreme shortness characterized by disproportion of body parts, typically due to an inheritable disorder in bone or cartilage development.

In contrast, those forms of shortness characterized by proportional body parts usually have a hormonal or nutritional cause. An example is growth hormone deficiency, which was once called "Pituitary dwarfism". According to current usage, proportional shortness, even when severe, is no longer referred to as "dwarfism".