The word dysplasia stems from the Greek words dys, meaning "disordered" or "abnormal", and plassein meaning "to form". The expression hip dysplasia can be interpreted as the abnormal or faulty development of the hip.  Abnormal development of the hip causes excessive wear of the joint cartilage during weight bearing, eventually leading to the development of arthritis, often called degenerative joint disease (DJD) or osteoarthritis (OA). The terms DJD, arthritis and osteoarthritis are used interchangeably.

Dr. Schnelle’s report on CHD in 1937, entitled Bilateral Congenital Subluxation of the Coxofemoral Joints of a Dog states that "the condition described herein, rare though it may be, should be recognized as being congenital and potentially hereditary, and the dog or bitch in which it occurs should be destroyed or sterilized in the eugenic interests of the breed."

In 1966, Drs. Henricson, Norberg and Olsson refined the definition of CHD describing it as: "A varying degree of laxity of the hip joint permitting subluxation during early life, giving rise to varying degrees of shallow acetabulum and flattening of the femoral head, finally inevitably leading to osteoarthritis."

Today, the general veterinary consensus is that hip dysplasia is a heritable disease manifested as hip joint laxity that leads to the development of DJD. The disease is multifactorial, many genetic and environmental components are involved in the disease manifestation and progression.