quackery

English

Etymology

From quack +‎ -ery.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

quackery (countable and uncountable, plural quackeries)

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

   Synonym: empiricism (in a dated sense of that word)

   Coordinate terms: alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine; folk medicine, traditional medicine

   • 1976 March 27, F. Dudley Hart, “History of the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, number 6012, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 763:

     When no certain cure exists, quack remedies tend to proliferate and the history of quackery and secret cures is full of extraordinary forms of treatment for the various arthritic disorders.

2. (countable) An instance of practicing fraudulent medicine.

Quotations

• 1772, Edmund Burke, ed, The Annual Register:

  His intentions were admirable, and his quackery had in view the public good; [...]

Related terms

• quack

Translations

practice

• Armenian: շառլատանություն (hy) (šaṙlatanutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: шарлатанство (bg) n (šarlatanstvo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 庸醫的醫術／庸医的医术 (yōngyī de yīshù)

• Czech: šarlatánství n, mastičkářství n
• Danish: kvaksalveri c
• Dutch: kwakzalverij (nl) f
• Finnish: puoskarointi (fi)
• French: charlatanisme (fr) m
• German: Quacksalberei (de) f
• Greek: αγυρτεία (el) f (agyrteía)
• Icelandic: skottulækningar f pl
• Italian: frode medica f, ciarlataneria f
• Japanese: 偽医療 (にせいりょう, niseiryō)
• Korean: 엉터리 치료 (eongteori chiryo)
• Latin: pharmacopolia f
• Macedonian: надрилекарство n (nadrilekarstvo)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kvakksalveri n

  Nynorsk: kvakksalveri n

• Polish: szarlataństwo n, znachorstwo n, szarlataneria (pl) f
• Portuguese: curandeirismo m
• Russian: шарлата́нство (ru) n (šarlatánstvo)
• Spanish: curandería f, curanderismo m
• Swedish: kvacksalveri (sv) c
• Welsh: cwacyddiaeth f, crachfeddygaeth f

instance

• Finnish: puoskarointi (fi)

See also

• fraud
• snake oil