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illustration Factotum

Factotum

[fak-TOH-dəm]

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Latin, mid-16th century

1.

An employee who does all kinds of work.

Examples of Factotum in a sentence

"I made the ink; I was warehouseman, and every thing, and, in short, quite a factotum.' — Benjamin Franklin"

"You'd better give him a raise; he's a real factotum."

About Factotum

Benjamin Franklin is known as a writer, philosopher, scientist, inventor, statesman, and more. In his autobiography he calls himself a factotum, and gives the definition in a footnote: "one who makes himself generally useful; a 'do-all.'"

Did you Know?

Slang nicknames aren't just a modern invention. In the 16th century a "Johannes Factotum" was what we would now call a "Jack-of-all-trades." In medieval Latin "fac" meant to do and "totum" meant the whole thing.

illustration Factotum

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