charlatan
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charlatan
- /ˈʃɑɹlətən/ US
- /ˈʃɑːlətən/ UK
Where it comes from
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).
noun charlatans
- A mountebank, someone who addresses crowds in the street; (especially), an itinerant seller of medicines or drugs. The poor foreigner, more dead than alive, answered that he was an Italian charlatan, who had practised with some reputation in Padua […].
-
A malicious trickster; a fake person, especially one who deceives for personal profit.
“If there’s something you don’t understand,” urged Dr. Breed, “ask Dr. Horvath to explain it. He’s very good at explaining.” He turned to me. “Dr. Hoenikker used to say that any scientist who couldn’t explain to an eight-year-old what he was doing was a charlatan.”
“Then I’m dumber than an eight-yea
Similar: trickster, swindler, scammer, bamboozler, bouncer, bullshitter, cheat, cheater, cogger, cony-catcher, crammer, deceiver
Translations
Every language
noun malicious trickster
| Español | charlatán |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 사기꾼 sagikkun, 허풍선이 heopungseoni, 돌팔이 dolpari |
| 日本語 | 薮医者 yabuisha |
| 中文 | 騙子 /骗子 piànzǐ, 庸醫 /庸医 yōngyī |
| हिन्दी | कपटी kapṭī, ढोंगी ḍhoṅgī |
| Português | charlatão |
| Français | charlatan |
| Deutsch | Scharlatan |
| Italiano | ciarlatano |
| Ελληνικά | αγύρτης agýrtis |
| Русский | шарлата́н šarlatán, шарлата́нка šarlatánka |
| العربية | دَجَّال dajjāl |
| עברית | שרלטן šarletan |
Talk about this word "charlatan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/charlatan. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. charlatan. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/charlatan "charlatan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/charlatan.Cite this
@misc{charlatan_2026,
title = {charlatan},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/charlatan},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
