# Origins of the term "Quack"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-term-quack/5647>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 28, 1999, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-term-quack/5647 "1999-12-28T00:59:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shadenwawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Shadenwawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadenwawa)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-term-quack/5647/1 "1999-12-28T00:59:00Z")

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Hi all.

Does anyone know where the term “quack” (for a doctor who is, shall we say, a-not-a-so-good at his trade) came from?

Shad

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-term-quack/5647/2 "1999-12-28T01:27:00Z")

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From the American Heritage dictionary, it derives for “quacksalver.” The etymology of “quacksalver” says “. . . from Middle Dutch _quacsalven_, to cure with home remedies, from _quac-_, unguent + \*salven \* to salve.”

So the original form meant someone who applied a unguent to wounds, changed into meaning someone who used home remedies, then dropped the “salver” and meant an incompentent doctor.

The OED has first cite in 1659.

“Madam, I am not a shyster. A shyster is an incompetent lawyer. I am a quack.” – Robert Preston in S.O.B.

“I need an unguent” – Fargo

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“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx

Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman)

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-term-quack/5647/3 "1999-12-28T02:48:00Z")

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Morris’s _Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins_ gives a similar origin, from quacksalver, one who quacks loudly about his salves, makes a lot of noise about his remedies.

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**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-term-quack/5647/4 "1999-12-28T14:08:00Z")

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From a duck, where else?

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**Author:** ![JBENZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@JBENZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBENZ)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 1999, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-term-quack/5647/5 "1999-12-29T19:17:00Z")

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Why a duck?

(Sorry…sometimes I can’t help myself)  
[http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/marxbros.html](http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/marxbros.html)

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JB  
Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis