quack
pronunciation
How to pronounce quack in British English:
UK [kwæk]
How to pronounce quack in American English:
US [kwæk]
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- Noun:
- an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice
- the harsh sound of a duck
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- Verb:
- utter quacking noises
- act as a medical quack or a charlatan
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- Adjective:
- medically unqualified
Word Origin
- quack
- quack: English has two words quack. The one denoting the call of a duck [17] originated of course as an imitation of the sound itself. Quack ‘person claiming to be a doctor’ [17] is short for an earlier quacksalver, which etymologically denoted ‘someone who prattles on or boasts about the efficacy of his remedies’. It was borrowed from early modern Dutch quacksalver, a compound formed from the now obsolete quacken ‘chatter, prattle’ and salf, the Dutch relative of English salve.
- quack (v.)
- "to make a duck sound," 1610s, earlier quake (1520s), variant of quelke (early 14c.), of echoic origin (compare Middle Dutch quacken, Old Church Slavonic kvakati, Latin coaxare "to croak," Greek koax "the croaking of frogs," Hittite akuwakuwash "frog"). Middle English on the quakke (14c.) meant "hoarse, croaking." Related: Quacked; quacking.
- quack (n.1)
- "medical charlatan," 1630s, short for quacksalver (1570s), from obsolete Dutch quacksalver (modern kwakzalver), literally "hawker of salve," from Middle Dutch quacken "to brag, boast," literally "to croak" (see quack (v.)) + salf "salve," salven "to rub with ointment" (see salve (v.)). As an adjective from 1650s. The oldest attested form of the word in this sense in English is as a verb, "to play the quack" (1620s). The Dutch word also is the source of German Quacksalber, Danish kvaksalver, Swedish kvacksalvare.
- quack (n.2)
- duck sound, 1839, from quack (v.).
Example
- 1. She might be taken in by those quack doctors .
- 2. I think my new doctor is a quack .
- 3. Back-alley abortions in such countries may involve homemade drug-cocktails , traditional healers and other quack remedies , as well as amateur surgery .
- 4. She discovered that the man was a quack .
- 5. An end to quack remedies is welcome , though it may have come too late for greece .