From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).
Meanings
A duck's quack.
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quaake
alternative, obsolete
lexicographic
Translations (6)
pl kwa (duck's sound) · mk квак (duck's sound) · ro mac (duck's sound) · de quak (duck's sound) · ta குவா (duck's sound) · cmn 嘎嘎 (duck's sound)
From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).
Meanings
The vocalisation made by a duck.
Twice a day she took them out to feed in the marshy places, let them waddle and gobble for an hour or two, and then drove them back and shut them up in a small dark shed to digest their meal, whence they gave forth occasionally a melancholy quack. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume 1, London: Macmillan and Co., page 356:
Did you hear that duck make a quack?
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quaake
alternative, obsolete
lexicographic
quacks
Number=Plur
lexicographic
Translations (63)
ca nyec (sound made by a duck) · ru кря́канье (sound made by a duck) · ro măcăit (sound made by a duck) · as পেঁক পেঁক (sound made by a duck) · mk ква́к (sound made by a duck) · ja クワッ クワッ (sound made by a duck) · fi kvaak (sound made by a duck) · mns-nor э̄тгыл (sound made by a duck) · id kuik (sound made by a duck) · vi cạp cạp (sound made by a duck) · es cua (sound made by a duck) · id wak (sound made by a duck) · cmn 嘎 (sound made by a duck) · cmn 呱 (sound made by a duck) · pl kwak (sound made by a duck) · no kvakk (sound made by a duck) · ms wak (sound made by a duck) · hu hápogás (sound made by a duck) · de Quaken (sound made by a duck) · ro măcăitură (sound made by a duck) · io bramo (sound made by a duck) · mi keakea (sound made by a duck) · ta குவா (sound made by a duck) · pt quac (sound made by a duck) · eo kvako (sound made by a duck) · fo kvagg (sound made by a duck) · sv kvack (sound made by a duck) · th ก้าบ (sound made by a duck) · da rap (sound made by a duck) · ru кря (sound made by a duck) · cy cwac (sound made by a duck) · ja クェッ クェッ (sound made by a duck) · ja ガー ガー (sound made by a duck) · ga vác (sound made by a duck) · pl kwaknięcie (sound made by a duck) · gd mhàg mhàg (sound made by a duck) · vi cạc cạc (sound made by a duck) · it qua qua (sound made by a duck) · nl kwak (sound made by a duck) · et prääks (sound made by a duck) · pt quém (sound made by a duck) · id kwek (sound made by a duck) · is andagagg (sound made by a duck) · es cuac (sound made by a duck) · bg крякане (sound made by a duck) · fo gvagg (sound made by a duck) · ru кря-кря́ (sound made by a duck) · pt quá (sound made by a duck) · tr vak (sound made by a duck) · mns-nor эт-эт (sound made by a duck) · mi kēkē (sound made by a duck) · ro măcănit (sound made by a duck) · ar بَطْبَطَة (sound made by a duck) · pt qué (sound made by a duck) · ar زَبْط (sound made by a duck) · el πα πα (sound made by a duck) · ko 꽥꽥 (sound made by a duck) · hu háp (sound made by a duck) · fr coin-coin (sound made by a duck) · ka ყიყინი (sound made by a duck) · is guss (sound made by a duck) · io kroaso (sound made by a duck) · tl kwak-kwak (sound made by a duck)
From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).
Meanings
Of a duck, to make its characteristic vocalisation.
Do you hear the ducks quack?
The more breadcrumbs I threw on the ground, the more they quacked.
To make a sound similar to the quack of a duck.
(intransitive) Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.
io bramar (to make a noise like a duck) · id kwek kwek (to make a noise like a duck) · fr cancaner (to make a noise like a duck) · mi kēkē (to make a noise like a duck) · es graznar (to make a noise like a duck) · is gagga (to make a noise like a duck) · ru кря́кнуть (to make a noise like a duck) · pt grasnir (to make a noise like a duck) · de quaken (to make a noise like a duck) · as পেঁক পেঁকোৱা (to make a noise like a duck) · pl kwaknąć (to make a noise like a duck) · ru кря́кать (to make a noise like a duck) · hu hápog (to make a noise like a duck) · ka ყიყინი (to make a noise like a duck) · ar زَبَطَ (to make a noise like a duck) · ja ガヤガヤしゃべる (to make a noise like a duck) · la tetrinnio (to make a noise like a duck) · fi vaakkua (to make a noise like a duck) · pt gracitar (to make a noise like a duck) · ro măcăi (to make a noise like a duck) · pt grasnar (to make a noise like a duck) · io kroasar (to make a noise like a duck) · bg крякам (to make a noise like a duck) · kw kwackya (to make a noise like a duck) · pt grassitar (to make a noise like a duck) · it anatrare (to make a noise like a duck) · tr vaklamak (to make a noise like a duck) · da rappe (to make a noise like a duck) · pl kwakać (to make a noise like a duck) · nl kwaken (to make a noise like a duck) · cs káchat (to make a noise like a duck) · arz يكاكي (to make a noise like a duck) · no kvekke (to make a noise like a duck) · es parpar (to make a noise like a duck) · sv kvacka (to make a noise like a duck) · is gussa (to make a noise like a duck) · eo kvaki (to make a noise like a duck) · mi keakea (to make a noise like a duck) · ia quaccar (to make a noise like a duck) · mk ква́ка (to make a noise like a duck) · ja ガーガーと鳴く (to make a noise like a duck)
Etymology tree
Middle Dutch quacsalven
Dutch quacksalverbor.
English quacksalverclip.
English quack
Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
Meanings
Falsely presented as having medicinal powers.
[R]ecently I examined as many newspapers and magazines as I could lay hands on just to see if I could find in them those old, alluring advertisements, ranging from the quack doctor to the quacker promoter and the quackest oracle of fate. There was nothing doing—everything as clean as a hound's tooth and as wholesome as sunshine. 1916 August 5, Henry D. Estabrook, “Truth in Advertising [advertisement]”, in The Duluth Herald, volume XXXIV, number 102, Duluth, Minn.: The Herald Company, →OCLC, page 6:
Finding, perhaps, that there is no solution either in politics or in any existing religion, he [the common man] may cling to the diagnosis of the last and quackest of his doctors: he may believe that art can save himself and the world. 1948, The Prospect before Us: Some Thoughts on the Future, London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., →OCLC, page 102:
When no certain cure exists, quack remedies tend to proliferate and the history of quackery and secret cures is full of extraordinary forms of treatment for the various arthritic disorders. 1976 March 27, F. Dudley Hart, “History of the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, number 6012, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 763:
They desperately want to believe something will help and for that reason they assist one another in obtaining unproven remedies. Such "helpful" promotion is generally more "quack" than fraudulent in nature. 1991, Journal of the Association of Food and Drug Officials, volume 55, York, Pa.: The Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 35:
[William] Hogarth might have felt some sympathy for [Sally] Mapp as an 'irregular' expert besting pomposity, but this is topped by his sheer relish for her as the Quackest Quack of all, and female to boot. In Hogarth's print the dark goddess rules over her court of fools, men who have taken over the ancient realm of women's healing, and now profit from the people's ills and credulity. 1997, Jenny Uglow, “Allegories of Healing”, in William Hogarth: A Life and a World, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 506:
In precisely the same way does a quack doctor prescribe his infallible nostrum to every patient, without taking into account differences of constitution, or [...] 1833, James Rennie, “The Word Gardening”, in Alphabet of Scientific Gardening for the Use of Beginners, London: William Orr, page 2:
Don't get your hopes up; that's quack medicine!
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more quack
Degree=Cmp
lexicographic
most quack
Degree=Sup
lexicographic
quackest
Degree=Sup
lexicographic
quacker
Degree=Cmp
lexicographic
Translations (5)
is svika- (falsely presented as having medicinal powers) · is fals- (falsely presented as having medicinal powers) · is skottu- (falsely presented as having medicinal powers) · pl szarlatański (falsely presented as having medicinal powers) · it empirico (falsely presented as having medicinal powers)
Etymology tree
Middle Dutch quacsalven
Dutch quacksalverbor.
English quacksalverclip.
English quack
Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
Meanings
(derogatory) A fraudulent healer, especially a bombastic peddler in worthless treatments, a doctor who makes false diagnoses for monetary benefit, or an untrained or poorly trained doctor who uses fraudulent credentials to attract patients
The advertising quack who wearies / With tales of countless cures, / His teeth, I've enacted, / Shall all be extracted / By terrified amateurs. 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, “A More Humane Mikado”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC, Act II, page 36:
1662, Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to Late Times, Vol. II, by ‘the most Eminent Wits’
Tis hard to say, how much these Arse-wormes do urge us, We now need no Quack but these Jacks for to purge us, …
‘if we are ourselves valets, there shall ‘exist no hero for us; we shall not know the hero when we see him;’ - we shall take the quack for a hero; and cry, audibly through all ballot-boxes and machinery whatsoever, Thou art he; be thou King over us! 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 8, The Electon”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):
"I don't want to get into specifics, but when I was born, my parts were considered... ambiguous. The quack of a doctor that delivered me, had trouble assigning a gender. So at his recommendation - and surgical intervention - I was raised as a boy." 2017 March 1, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 920 - Quack:
After ſome Months, the Quack gets privately to Town, [...] 1720, William Derham, Physico-theology:
Polly (to security guard, referring to Dr. Feingarten): Are you going to let that shyster in there?
Dr. Feingarten: I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack. 1981, S.O.B. (film)
That doctor is nothing but a lousy quack!
(derogatory, figuratively) Any similar charlatan or incompetent professional.
The very quaik of faſhions, the very hee that / VVeares a Steletto on his chinne. c. 1635–1636 (date written), Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], The Fancies, Chast and Noble: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seile, […], published 1638, →OCLC, Act III, page 32:
(derogatory, humorous, mildly, slang) Any doctor.
That quack wants me to quit smoking, eat less, and start exercising. The nerve!
ga potrálaí (charlatan) · nb kvakksalver (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · hy հեքիմ (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · pt charlatão (charlatan) · ka თაღლითი (charlatan) · ru знахарь (doctor) · fi puoskari (doctor) · pms charlatão (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · tr üfürükçü (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · pt curandeiro (doctor) · kn ಅಳಲೆಕಾಯಿ ಪಂಡಿತ (charlatan) · tr şarlatan (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · es charlatán (charlatan) · ru конова́л (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · it imbonitore (charlatan) · de Quacksalber (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · hu sarlatán (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · fi puoskari (charlatan) · fi puoskari (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · ru шарлата́н (charlatan) · th หมอกำมะลอ (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · hy շառլատան (charlatan) · gl charlatán (charlatan) · io sharlatano (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · io sharlatano (charlatan) · hu kuruzsló (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · nl kwakzalfster (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · gd saobh-lèigh (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · mk надрилекар (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · th หมอเถื่อน (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · pl medyczka (doctor) · el τσαρλατάνος (charlatan) · es curandero (doctor) · ja ペテン師 (charlatan) · id dukun (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · io medikacho (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · ka შარლატანი (charlatan) · pl szarlatan (charlatan) · nl kwakzalver (charlatan) · nrf dgéthisseux (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · de Quacksalberin (charlatan) · ga dochtúir bréige (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · tr kırlangıç (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · de Kurpfuscher (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · pl szarlatanka (charlatan) · ka ექიმბაში (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · th นักต้มตุ๋น (charlatan) · hi झोलाछाप (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · hu sarlatán (charlatan) · pt mata-sanos (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · th สิบแปดมงกุฎ (charlatan) · gd sgoiteach (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · pl szarlatan (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · io sharlatano (doctor) · fr toubib (doctor) · gd feall-lèigh (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · is loddari (charlatan) · el κομπογιαννίτης (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · fr charlatan (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · tl doktor-laway (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · es matasanos (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · fr charlatane (charlatan) · nl kwakzalfster (charlatan) · is skottulæknir (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · vi lang băm (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · cmn 庸醫 /庸医 (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · bg шарлатанин (charlatan) · pl znachorka (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · fi valelääkäri (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · cy cwac (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · da kvaksalver (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · nn kvakksalvar (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · et imearst (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · fr charlatan (charlatan) · pl znachor (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · bg знахар (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · is fúskari (charlatan) · el αλμπάνης (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · ga soidéalach (charlatan) · he רוֹפֵא אֱלִיל (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · is falsari (charlatan) · it pataccaro (charlatan) · fr charlatane (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · kn ಅಳಲೆಕಾಯಿ ಪಂಡಿತ (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · mk шарлата́н (charlatan) · pl szarlatanka (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · ru шарлата́н (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · gd sionnal (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · gd sionnal (charlatan) · is svikari (charlatan) · pl medyk (doctor) · pl konował (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · th กำมะลอ (charlatan) · ja 藪医者 (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · tr şarlatan (charlatan) · grc ὀχλαγωγός (charlatan) · et nurgaarst (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · sv kvacksalvare (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · cmn 江湖醫生 /江湖医生 (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · hu vajákos (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · nl kwakzalver (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · it mediconzolo (doctor) · nl charlatan (charlatan) · it ciarlatano (charlatan) · hi झोलाछाप (charlatan) · ja もぐりの医者 (fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine) · de Quacksalber (charlatan)
Etymology tree
Middle Dutch quacsalven
Dutch quacksalverbor.
English quacksalverclip.
English quack
Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
Meanings
To practice or commit quackery (fraudulent medicine).
[…] it is incredible, and scarce to be imagin’d, how the Posts of Houses, and Corners of Streets were plaster’d over with Doctors Bills, and Papers of ignorant Fellows; quacking and tampering in Physick, and inviting the People to come to them for Remedies; 1722, Daniel Defoe, “A Journal of the Plague Year”, in et al., London: E. Nutt, page 36:
(obsolete) To make vain and loud pretensions.
Seek out for Plants with Signatures
To Quack of Universal Cures 1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, London, Part 3, Canto 1, p. 18: