Verstoppertje spelen als kameleon met camouflage

What does “kwakzalver” mean in Dutch?

Kwakzalver means charlatan or quack — someone who peddles fake cures or expertise with a lot of noise. The word has been Dutch since the 1500s: kwakken meant to shout and boast, zalf is salve, so a kwakzalver was originally a market hawker loudly selling dubious ointments. What makes the word memorable today is that Dutch exported it to English: “quack” comes directly from kwakzalver.

When the chameleon flatly refuses to eat the insect — ignoring everything wildlife presenter Freek Vonk supposedly told us about their diet — the host mutters “kwakzalver,” writing Vonk off as a fraud on the spot. The comedic timing makes the word stick. Beyond medicine, kwakzalver can describe any bluffer: a dubious financial advisor, a fake guru, a politician who overpromises. The related noun kwakzalverij (“quackery”) is still the standard Dutch term for alternative-medicine fraud, kept alive by the Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij, a sceptics' society founded in 1881 — the oldest anti-quackery organisation in the world.