charlatan Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes
    mountebank.

WordNet

Char"la*tan noun
Etymology
F. charlatan, fr. It. ciarlatano, fr. ciarlare to chartter, prate; of imitative origin; cf. It. zirlare to whistle like a thrush.
Definitions
  1. One who prates much in his own favor, and makes unwarrantable pretensions; a quack; an impostor; an empiric; a mountebank.

Webster 1913