From Middle French charlatan, from roa-oit ciarlatano, a blend of ciarlatore ("chatterer") + cerretano ("hawker, quack") (Cerreto di Spoleto being a village in Umbria, known for its quacks).

• (America) IPA: /ˈʃɑɹlətən/
• (RP) IPA: /ˈʃɑːlətən/

charlatan (plural charlatans)

1. (obsolete) A mountebank, someone who addresses crowds in the street; , an itinerant seller of medicines or drugs.
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC ↗:

     The poor foreigner, more dead than alive, answered that he was an Italian charlatan, who had practised with some reputation in Padua […] .

2. A malicious trickster; a fake person, especially one who deceives for personal profit.

   Synonyms: trickster, swindler, scammer, Thesaurus:deceiver

• charlatanism
• charlatanry

• French: charlatan
• German: Scharlatan
• Italian: ciarlatano
• Portuguese: charlatão
• Russian: шарлата́н
• Spanish: charlatán, vendehúmos, vendedor de crecepelo