Learn English – A word or phrase for a fake doctors or healers

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I am looking for a word to describe people that proclaim that they possess healing powers or know remedies to cure incurable conditions or even to poses spiritual powers. A general term would be a charlatan but I want something specific. Something like the word alchemist compared to a chemist. Few words, I can think of are fake shaman, fake healers, plastic shaman, voodoo priest.

Best Answer

If you are talking medicine (including pseudo-scientific medicine) then you want either quack or snake-oil salesman.

Quack (MW, noun definitions 1 & 2)

charlatan

a pretender to medical skill

Snake-oil (MW)

any of various substances or mixtures sold (as by a traveling medicine show) as medicine usually without regard to their medical worth or properties

Snake-oil salesman (Cambridge)

someone who deceives people in order to get money from them

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