English Explanatory Dictionary

quack

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The vocalisation made by a duck.
verb
  1. Of a duck, to make its characteristic vocalisation.
  2. To make a sound similar to the quack of a duck.
  3. Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.
intj
  1. A duck's quack.
noun
  1. 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
  2. Any similar charlatan or incompetent professional.
  3. Any doctor.
verb
  1. To practice or commit quackery (fraudulent medicine).
  2. To make vain and loud pretensions.
adj
  1. Falsely presented as having medicinal powers.

Pronunciation

/kwæk/ en-us-quack.ogg

Word forms

quack quacks quaake quacking quacked more quack quacker most quack quackest

Etymology

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”).

Synonyms

snake-oil salesman medicaster quacksalver pharmacopole boast

Derived words

quacker quackle quackless quack like a duck quacky quackademic quackbuster quackbusting quackcinated quackery quackhood quackish quackism quacklike quackster quacktitioner

Translations

Arabic: زَبَطَ Arabic: يكاكي Assamese: পেঁক পেঁকোৱা Bulgarian: крякам Cornish: kwackya Czech: káchat Danish: rappe Dutch: kwaken Esperanto: kvaki Finnish: vaakkua French: cancaner Georgian: ყიყინი German: quaken Hungarian: hápog Icelandic: gagga Icelandic: gussa Ido: kroasar Ido: bramar Indonesian: kwek kwek Interlingua: quaccar Italian: anatrare Japanese: ガーガーと鳴く Japanese: ガヤガヤしゃべる Latin: tetrinnio Macedonian: ква́ка Māori: keakea Māori: kēkē Norwegian: kvekke Polish: kwakać Portuguese: grasnar Portuguese: grasnir Portuguese: grassitar Portuguese: gracitar Romanian: măcăi Russian: кря́кать Russian: кря́кнуть Spanish: graznar Spanish: parpar Swedish: kvacka Turkish: vaklamak
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