charlatan

See also: charlatán

English

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

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

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: char‧la‧tan

Noun

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.

Derived terms

• charlatanic
• charlatanical
• charlatanship

Related terms

• charlatanism
• charlatanry

Translations

malicious trickster

• Arabic: دَجَّال (dajjāl)
• Armenian: ընդվայրաբան (əndvayraban), շառլատան (hy) (šaṙlatan)
• Bulgarian: шарлата́нин (bg) m (šarlatánin)
• Catalan: xarlatà (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騙子 / 骗子 (zh) (piànzǐ), (quack) 庸醫 / 庸医 (zh) (yōngyī)

• Czech: šarlatán (cs) m
• Danish: charlatan c, fupmager (da) c, snydepels c, fidusmager c, svindler (da) c, platugle c
• Dutch: charlatan (nl) m
• Finnish: huijari (fi), puoskari (fi)
• French: charlatan (fr) m
• Galician: charlatán m
• German: Scharlatan (de) m
• Greek: αγύρτης (el) m (agýrtis)

  Ancient: ὀχλαγωγός m (okhlagōgós)

• Hebrew: שרלטן (he) m (šarletan)
• Hungarian: sarlatán (hu)
• Indonesian: penipu (id), dukun (id)
• Italian: ciarlatano (it) m
• Japanese: 薮医者 (ja) (やぶいしゃ, yabuisha)
• Korean: 사기꾼 (ko) (sagikkun), 허풍선이 (heopungseoni), 돌팔이 (dolpari)
• Latin: magus
• Maori: tohunga kēhua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sjarlatan (no) m

  Nynorsk: sjarlatan m

• Occitan: charlatan (oc) m
• Persian: شارلاتان (fa) (šârlâtân)
• Polish: szarlatan (pl) m
• Portuguese: charlatão (pt) m
• Russian: шарлата́н (ru) m (šarlatán), шарлата́нка (ru) f (šarlatánka)
• Spanish: charlatán (es) m, vendehúmos (es), vendedor de crecepelo
• Turkish: şarlatan (tr)
• Ukrainian: дури́світ (uk) m (durýsvit), пройди́світ m (projdýsvit)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French charlatan.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

charlatan m (plural charlatans, diminutive charlatannetje n)

1. charlatan

   Synonyms: bedrieger, oplichter

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁ.la.tɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

charlatan m (plural charlatans, feminine charlatane)

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

Descendants

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

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Italian ciarlatano.

Noun

charlatan m (plural charlatans)

1. a street-seller of medicines

Descendants

• 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

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

• charlataneri

References

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