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

   • 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)

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

• “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
• → 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)