Standard Lemma guide

quackery

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈkwækəɹi/
  • General-American: /ˈkwækɹi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K W AE1 K ER0 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The practice of fraudulent medicine, usually in order to make money or for ego gratification and power; health fraud.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: law, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: empiricism

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An instance of practicing fraudulent medicine.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: empiricism

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: medical practice

4

noun

Meaning 4

the dishonesty of a charlatan

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: charlatanism

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: dishonesty, knavery

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Middle Dutch quacsalven Dutch quacksalverbor. English quacksalverclip. English quack Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Old French -ier Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Old French -ie Old French -eriebor. Middle English -erie English -ery English quackery From quack + -ery.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: շառլատանություն (šaṙlatanutʻyun) — practice
  • Bulgarian: шарлатанство (šarlatanstvo) — practice
  • Chinese Mandarin: 庸醫的醫術 /庸医的医术 (yōngyī de yīshù) — practice
  • Czech: šarlatánství — practice
  • Czech: mastičkářství — practice
  • Danish: kvaksalveri — practice
  • Dutch: kwakzalverij — practice
  • Finnish: puoskarointi — practice
  • French: charlatanisme — practice
  • German: Quacksalberei — practice
  • Greek: αγυρτεία (agyrteía) — practice
  • Icelandic: skottulækningar — practice
  • Italian: frode medica — practice
  • Italian: ciarlataneria — practice
  • Japanese: 偽医療 (niseiryō) — practice
  • Korean: 엉터리 치료 (eongteori chiryo) — practice
  • Latin: pharmacopolia — practice
  • Macedonian: надрилекарство (nadrilekarstvo) — practice
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kvakksalveri — practice
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kvakksalveri — practice
  • Polish: szarlataństwo — practice
  • Polish: znachorstwo — practice
  • Polish: szarlataneria — practice
  • Portuguese: curandeirismo — practice
  • Russian: шарлата́нство (šarlatánstvo) — practice
  • Spanish: curandería — practice
  • Spanish: curanderismo — practice
  • Swedish: kvacksalveri — practice
  • Welsh: cwacyddiaeth — practice
  • Welsh: crachfeddygaeth — practice
  • Finnish: puoskarointi — instance
  • Polish: szarlataneria — instance