mountebank
/ˈmaʊntəˌbæŋk/noun, verb
mountebank is spelled M-O-U-N-T-E-B-A-N-K: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 138,319th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mountebank means “One who sells dubious medicines” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mountebank is mountebanks.
How many letters and syllables are in mountebank?
| Letters | 10: M-O-U-N-T-E-B-A-N-K |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 21 million words; the 138,319th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is mountebank?
Mountebank appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 138,319th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mountebank?
- /ˈmaʊntəˌbæŋk/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mountebank.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mountebank
- mountebanks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- mountebanking participle, present
- mountebanked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mountebank mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One who sells dubious medicines.
- 2
One who sells by deception; a con artist.
Are you allowing yourselves to be fooled by this mountebank, this harlequin? Do you cringe before a religion compounded of clouds and moonbeams? This man is an imposter and the Galactic Spirit he speaks of a fraud of the imagination devised
- 3
Any boastful, false pretender.
- 4
obsoleteAn acrobat.
verb
- 1
To act as a mountebank.
- 2
To cheat by boasting and false pretenses.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does mountebank come from?
From archaic Italian montambanco (“quack who mounts a bench to hawk his wares”), contracted from monta-in-banco (“mount on bench”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).