charlatan
SHAR-luh-tunnounMeaning a fake who claims special knowledge or skill in order to fool people
Memory hook CHARLIE the TONic man. Charlie sells a “magic tonic” from his cart that he swears will make you fly; a man who claims a skill he does not have is a charlatan.
The charlatan sold bottles of colored water as a cure for baldness.
In context He called himself a famous healer, but he was a charlatan: he had never studied medicine, and his “miracle tonic” was only sugar water.
Similar fraud, quack, fake, phony
Opposite expert, authority, professional
From Italian ciarlatano, “a quack,” a seller of fake cures.