charlatan

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: charlatán

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle French charlatan, from Old Italian ciarlatano (quack), a blend of ciarlatore (chatterer) + cerretano (hawker, quack, literally native of Cerreto) (Cerreto di Spoleto being a village in Umbria, known for its quacks).

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

charlatan (plural charlatans)

  1. (obsolete) A mountebank, someone who addresses crowds in the street; (especially), an itinerant seller of medicines or drugs.
  2. A malicious trickster; a fake person, especially one who deceives for personal profit.
    Synonyms: trickster, swindler, scammer; see also Thesaurus:deceiver
    • 2018 June, Ian Murray, The Independent:
      That this disgraceful charlatan holds one of the great offices of state in this country should be a source of constant shame and embarrassment to the Prime Minister.

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

French

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Borrowed from Italian ciarlatano. Pejorative meaning first recorded 1668.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

charlatan m (plural charlatans, feminine charlatane)

  1. (dated) a streetseller of medicines
  2. a charlatan (trickster)
  3. a quack

Descendants

[edit]
  • Turkish: şarlatan
  • Romanian: șarlatan

Further reading

[edit]

Middle French

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

charlatan m (plural charlatans)

  1. a street-seller of medicines

Descendants

[edit]

Swedish

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From French charlatan. Cognate of English charlatan, German Scharlatan.

Noun

[edit]

charlatan c

  1. fraudster, deceiver

Declension

[edit]

Derived terms

[edit]

References

[edit]