quack.
The vocalisation made by a duck.
Meaning & usage
The vocalisation made by a duck.
Did you hear that duck make a quack?
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).
Of a duck, to make its characteristic vocalisation.
The more breadcrumbs I threw on the ground, the more they quacked.
Do you hear the ducks quack?
To make a sound similar to the quack of a duck.
Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).
A duck's quack.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).
A fraudulent healer, especially a bombastic peddler in worthless treatments, a doctor who makes false diagnoses for monetary benefit, or an untrained or poorly trained doctor who uses fraudulent credentials to attract patients
That doctor is nothing but a lousy quack!
Any similar charlatan or incompetent professional.
Any doctor.
That quack wants me to quit smoking, eat less, and start exercising. The nerve!
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Middle Dutch quacsalven Dutch quacksalverbor. English quacksalverclip. English quack Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
To practice or commit quackery (fraudulent medicine).
To make vain and loud pretensions.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Middle Dutch quacsalven Dutch quacksalverbor. English quacksalverclip. English quack Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
Falsely presented as having medicinal powers.
Don't get your hopes up; that's quack medicine!
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Middle Dutch quacsalven Dutch quacksalverbor. English quacksalverclip. English quack Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.