quack

¹ American  

[kwak] / kwæk /

noun

1. the harsh, throaty cry of a duck or any similar sound.

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verb (used without object)

1. to utter the cry of a duck or a sound resembling it.

quack ² American  

[kwak] / kwæk /

noun

1. a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill.

   Desperation for a cure led her to a quack who took her money.

2. a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications they do not possess; a charlatan.

   Synonyms:

   phony, mountebank

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adjective

1. being a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to skills, especially medical skills.

   He's just a quack psychologist who complicates everyone's problems.

2. presented falsely as having curative powers.

   quack medicine.

3. of, relating to, or befitting a quack or quackery.

   Her quack methods have helped no one.

verb (used with object)

1. to treat in the manner of a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill.

2. to advertise or sell with fraudulent claims.

quack ¹ British  

/ kwæk /

noun

1. 1. an unqualified person who claims medical knowledge or other skills

   2. ( as modifier )

      a quack doctor

2. informal a doctor; physician or surgeon

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verb

1. (intr) to act in the manner of a quack

quack ² British  

/ kwæk /

verb

1. (of a duck) to utter a harsh guttural sound

2. to make a noise like a duck

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noun

1. the harsh guttural sound made by a duck

Other Word Forms

• quackish
  adjective
• quackishly
  adverb
• quackishness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of quack¹

First recorded in 1570–80; imitative; compare Dutch kwakken, German quacken

Origin of quack²

First recorded in 1630–40; short for quacksalver

Explanation

There are good quacks and bad quacks. A good quack is the sound a duck makes. A bad quack is someone pretending to be a doctor. (You'd be better off visiting the duck with your ailment.) If you ever get a chance to interview a celebrity duck, prepare to write the word quack in your notebook many, many times, because that’s all that ducks can say. The way you spell animal sounds changes depending what language you speak. In English a duck quacks, but in Danish a duck "raps," while Indonesian ducks "wek," and Romanian ducks say "mac." And that "MD" who isn’t really a doctor, but is good at pretending to be one? He's a quack. If you ever meet a quack that "quacks," please run.

Example Sentences

Quack, a 9-foot female first documented in 2018, has a marking that resembles a duck.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 16, 2023

Miracle Mineral Solution is perhaps the most prominent but not the only product targeted by the FDA in what it has dubbed Operation Quack Hack.

From Salon • May 18, 2020

Quack remedies retain their allure even in an age of gene therapy.

From Washington Post • May 29, 2019

She reports on how teachers are exasperated by her talkativeness, setting her a series of punishment essays titled A Chatterbox, then An Incorrigible Chatterbox, and finally Quack, quack, quack, said Mistress Chatterback.

From The Guardian • May 25, 2019

It’s what my psychiatrist, better known as Dr. Quack, called the Call of the Void.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman