Cretinism is a condition of severely stunted physical and mental growth due to untreated congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones (congenital hypothyroidism) usually due to maternal hypothyroidism.
== Etymology ==
The term cretin was once used to describe a person affected by cretinism, but, as with words such as spastic, and lunatic, it is now considered derogatory and inappropriate. Cretin became a medical term in the 18th century, from an Occitan and an Alpine French expression, prevalent in a region where persons with such a condition were especially common (see below); it saw wide medical...