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A charlatan is someone who pretends to have special skill or knowledge they do not really have. People say it to show they do not trust that person, and they do not like them for it. It is a hard, grown-up word, not a joke between friends. A charlatan might sell a “miracle” cream, act like a doctor they are not, or talk like an expert on stage. The old picture behind the word is a loud street seller who chats and chats, then sells a cheap cure. Though actually, not every person who is wrong is a charlatan: the word is for someone who is putting on a show on purpose.
騙子；江湖郎中（尤指假醫生、假專家）
組成From Middle French charlatan, from Old Italian ciarlatano (“quack”), a blend of ciarlatore (“chatterer”) + cerretano (“hawker, quack”, literally “native of Cerreto”). Cerreto di Spoleto is a village in Umbria, Italy, once known for its quacks.
同家族的字
- charlatanismthe practice of being a charlatan
- charlatanrythe same idea: fake skill sold as real
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
charlatannoun/ˈʃɑɹlətən/
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obsoleteA mountebank, someone who addresses crowds in the street; (especially), an itinerant seller of medicines or drugs.
- The poor foreigner, more dead than alive, answered that he was an Italian charlatan, who had practised with some reputation in Padua […].
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A malicious trickster; a fake person, especially one who deceives for personal profit.
- “If there’s something you don’t understand,” urged Dr. Breed, “ask Dr. Horvath to explain it. He’s very good at explaining.” He turned to me. “Dr. Hoenikker used to say that any scientist who couldn’t explain to an eight-year-old what he was doing was a charlatan.” “Then I’m dumber than an eight-year-old,” Miss Pefko mourned. “I don’t even know what a charlatan is.”
- That this disgraceful charlatan holds one of the great offices of state in this country should be a source of constant shame and embarrassment to the Prime Minister.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。