charlatan

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).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑɹlətən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑːlətən/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: char‧la‧tan

charlatan (plural charlatans)

1. (obsolete) A mountebank, someone who addresses crowds in the street; (especially), an itinerant seller of medicines or drugs.
   • 1751, [Tobias] 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

   • 1963 March 18, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., chapter 15, in Cat’s Cradle:

     “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-year-old,” Miss Pefko mourned. “I don’t even know what a charlatan is.”

   • 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.

• charlatanism
• charlatanry

Borrowed from French charlatan.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑr.laːˈtɑn/, /ˈʃɑr.laː.tɑn/

• Audio:

  (file)

charlatan m (plural charlatans, diminutive charlatannetje n)

1. charlatan

   Synonyms: bedrieger, oplichter

From Middle French charlatan, from Old Italian ciarlatano. Pejorative meaning first recorded 1668.

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁ.la.tɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

charlatan m (plural charlatans, feminine charlatane)

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

• → Dutch: charlatan
• → German: Scharlatan
  • → Czech: šarlatán
  • → Hungarian: sarlatán
• → Turkish: şarlatan
• → Persian: شارلاطان (šârlâtân), شارلاتان (šârlâtân)
• → Romanian: șarlatan
• → Serbo-Croatian: šarlatan
• → Swedish: charlatan
• → Russian: шарлатан (šarlatan)
  • → Armenian: շառլատան (šaṙlatan)

• “charlatan”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from Old Italian ciarlatano.

charlatan m (plural charlatans)

1. a street-seller of medicines

• French: charlatan
  • → Dutch: charlatan
  • → German: Scharlatan
    • → Czech: šarlatán
    • → Hungarian: sarlatán
  • → Turkish: şarlatan
  • → Persian: شارلاطان (šârlâtân), شارلاتان (šârlâtân)
  • → Romanian: șarlatan
  • → Serbo-Croatian: šarlatan
  • → Swedish: charlatan
  • → Russian: шарлатан (šarlatan)
    • → Armenian: շառլատան (šaṙlatan)
• → English: charlatan

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

charlatan c

1. fraudster, deceiver

• charlataneri

• charlatan in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• charlatan in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• charlatan in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)