quack

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kwæk/^[1]

Etymology

There are two words.^[2][3][4] The duck's cry is imitative,^[2][4][5][6] from Middle English queken and the interjection quek.^[3][4] The quack meaning a charlatan is short for quacksalver (1570s),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} borrowed from Dutch quacksalver (“hawker of salve”),^[5] from Middle Dutch quacken “to boast, croak” and salf “salve”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

For the charlatan sense, the verb “to play the quack, talk pretentiously” (1628), and the noun, a pretender to medical skill (1638).^[7][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

A quacksalver was literally someone who “croaked”, or boasted loudly, about his ointments.^[5] Shortened to quack, the word came to mean any ignorant pretender to medical or other skill.^[7][2][6] The adjective, as in quack medicine, dates from 1653^[7][4][3] and quackery from 1709–1711.^[4] From 1919 Australian and New Zealand slang used quack for any doctor, without the implication of fraud.^[7] The duck word is older: Middle English queken is recorded before 1333, and the modern verb from 1617.^[4][7]

Timeline

• before 1333 – queken, of a duck, to quack.^[4]
• 1617 – verb, of a duck, to quack.^[7][4]
• 1628 – verb, to talk pretentiously, like a quack.^[7][3]
• 1638 – noun, a charlatan.^[7][3][4]
• 1653 – adjective, as in quack medicine.^[7][4][3]
• 1839 – noun, the cry of a duck.^[7][4]
• 1919 – slang, any doctor (Australian and New Zealand).^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An untrained person who pretends to be a doctor.
2. A charlatan who claims skill or knowledge he or she does not have.
3. The cry of a duck.
4. (slang) Any doctor.

Adjective

1. Relating to or used by quacks, as in quack remedies.

Verb

1. To make the cry of a duck.
2. To act as a quack or charlatan.

Word family

• quackery
• quackish
• quackishly
• quackishness

Related words

• quacksalver
• charlatan
• mountebank
• salve

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press