jack of all trades

See also: jack-of-all-trades, Jack-of-all-trades, Jack of all Trades, and Jack of all trades

English

WOTD – 19 November 2024

Etymology

From jack (“typical man, fellow”) +‎ of +‎ all +‎ trades.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔːl ˈtɹeɪdz/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔl ˈtɹeɪdz/, (cot–caught merger) /-ɑl-/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Rhymes: -eɪdz

Noun

jack of all trades (plural jacks of all trades)

(idiomatic) One competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.
Synonyms: all-rounder; factotum; generalist; jack of all trades, master of none; sciolist

Antonym: jackass of all trades

Coordinate terms: jill of all trades; Jill of all trades, mistress of none
- 1618, G M, “Of Entertainment in Prison”, in Essayes and Characters of a Prison and Prisoners, London: [George Eld] for Mathew Walbancke, , →OCLC, pages 23–24:
  Novv for the moſt part your Porter is either ſome broken Cittizen, vvho hath plaid Iack of all trades, ſome Pander, Broker, or Hangman, that hath plaid the knaue vvith all men, and for the more certainty his Embleme is a red Beard, to vvhich Sacke hath made his Noſe couſin German.
  This is the earliest attestation of the term in the Oxford English Dictionary.
- 1854 July – 1855 March, Herman Melville, “Which has Something to Say about Dr. Franklin and the Latin Quarter”, in Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile, New York, N.Y.: G P Putnam & Co., , published May 1855, →OCLC, page 81:
  Printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, chemist, orator, tinker, statesman, humorist, philosopher, parlor man, political economist, professor of housewifery, ambassador, projector, maxim-monger, herb-doctor, wit:—Jack of all trades, master of each and mastered by none—the type and genius of his land.
- 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VI, in Great Expectations , volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, , published October 1861, →OCLC, page 98:
  "I am my own engineer, and my own carpenter, and my own plumber, and my own gardener, and my own Jack of all Trades," said Wemmick, in acknowledging my compliments.
- 1912, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “Wanted—an Owner”, in Where There’s a Will, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 52–53:
  A fellow can always get some sort of a job—I was coming up here to see if they needed an extra clerk or a waiter, or chauffeur, or anything that meant a roof and something to eat—but I suppose they don't need a jack-of-all-trades.
- 1929, Howard W[ilcox] Haggard, “‘In Sorrow Thou shalt Bring forth Children’”, in Devils, Drugs, and Doctors: The Story of the Science of Healing from Medicine-man to Doctor, New York, N.Y.; Evanston, Ill.: Harper & Row, →OCLC, part 2 (The Story of Anesthesia), image caption, page 100:
  In 1823, when this drawing was made, there was anesthesia for dentistry and in fact very little dentistry except the extraction of teeth. Much of this extraction was conducted by itinerant quacks or jacks-of-all-trades who did it as a side line to their business.

Usage notes

The term can be used approvingly, neutrally, or disparagingly (with the implication that the person referred to is not skilled in any endeavour—compare jack of all trades, master of none), The latter sense was especially evident in earlier use.^[1]