charlatan

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See also: charlatán

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Noun

charlatan (plural charlatans)

  1. (obsolete) A mountebank, someone who addresses crowds in the street; (especially), an itinerant seller of medicines or drugs.
    • 1751, Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., , →OCLC:
      The poor foreigner, more dead than alive, answered that he was an Italian charlatan, who had practised with some reputation in Padua […] .
  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

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ciarlatano. Pejorative meaning first recorded 1668.

Pronunciation

Noun

charlatan m (plural charlatans, feminine charlatane)

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

Descendants

  • → Turkish: şarlatan
  • → Romanian: șarlatan

Further reading

Middle French

Noun

charlatan m (plural charlatans)

  1. a street-seller of medicines

Descendants

Swedish

Etymology

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

Noun

charlatan c

  1. fraudster, deceiver

Declension

Declension of charlatan
nominative genitive
singular indefinite charlatan charlatans
definite charlatanen charlatanens
plural indefinite charlataner charlataners
definite charlatanerna charlatanernas

Derived terms

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia