entry
factotum
/fækˈtoʊtəm/A person who does many kinds of work
From Latin fac (do) + Latin tot (whole).
from Medieval Latin factotum "do everything,"
from Medieval Latin factotum "do everything,"
from Medieval Latin factotum "do everything,"
Word Ancestry
from Medieval Latin factotum "do everything,"
from Medieval Latin factotum "do everything,"
from Medieval Latin factotum "do everything,"
A servant who could do everything had the sort of resume that would make a modern office manager weep with relief. Medieval Latin was blunt about it: domine fac totum, literally “master, do everything,” a phrase that got clipped down into factotum. The first half, fac, is the same hard-working little command behind words like fact, factory, and even effect; the second half is tied to total, that idea of the whole lot, all of it. Put them together and you get a human Swiss Army knife — not a specialist, but the poor soul sent for the keys, the ink, the horse, and probably the shovel too. By the 1560s English had borrowed it, and the word has been carrying the faint smell of dusty estates and overburdened clerks ever since.
The Story
A servant who could do everything had the sort of resume that would make a modern office manager weep with relief. Medieval Latin was blunt about it: domine fac totum, literally “master, do everything,” a phrase that got clipped down into factotum. The first half, fac, is the same hard-working little command behind words like fact, factory, and even effect; the second half is tied to total, that idea of the whole lot, all of it. Put them together and you get a human Swiss Army knife — not a specialist, but the poor soul sent for the keys, the ink, the horse, and probably the shovel too. By the 1560s English had borrowed it, and the word has been carrying the faint smell of dusty estates and overburdened clerks ever since.
Modern Usage
A person who can do many jobs, sometimes with a slightly comic or put-upon tone
Popularized by: general English usage and later informal speech
Notable References
- Classic English prose using 'factotum' for a multi-purpose servant or helper
Kin & Kindred
From 'fac'·do, make
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'tot'·whole, all
Derived Terms
English words from this root