different between factotum vs fact

English

Etymology

From New Latin factotum (literally “do everything”), from Latin fac, present singular imperative of faci? (“do, make”) + t?tum (“everything”); attested in English from 1566.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fæk?t??.t?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /fæk?to?.t?m/

Noun

factotum (plural factotums)

1. (dated) A person having many diverse activities or responsibilities.
2. (dated) A general servant.

   Synonym: do-all

   • 1847, Herman Melville, Omoo, Chapter 73,

     I had almost forgotten Monee, the grinning old man who prepared our meal. […] He was Po-Po’s factotum—cook, butler, and climber of the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees; and, added to all else, a mighty favourite with his mistress; with whom he would sit smoking and gossiping by the hour.

3. An individual employed to do all sorts of duties.
4. A jack of all trades.

   Synonyms: handyman, jack of all trades, sciolist
5. A printer's ornament forming a decorative border into which any letter can be inserted to mark the beginning of a section of text.

Translations

References

• factotum in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Further reading

• Factotum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

Possibly directly or else via French from New Latin factotum (literally “do everything”), from Latin fac, present singular imperative of faci? (“do, make”) + t?tum (“everything”); attested in Dutch from 1605.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?k?to?.t?m/
• Hyphenation: fac?to?tum

Noun

factotum m (plural factotums, diminutive factotumpje n)

1. factotum (jack-of-all-trades)

Synonyms

• manusje-van-alles
• klusjesman

Italian

Noun

factotum m (invariable)

1. An individual employed to do all sorts of duties.

English

Etymology

From Latin factum (“a deed, act, exploit; in Medieval Latin also state, condition, circumstance”), neuter of factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faci? (“do, make”). Doublet of feat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

fact (countable and uncountable, plural facts)

1. Something actual as opposed to invented.
2. Something which is real.

   Gravity is a fact, not a theory.

3. Something concrete used as a basis for further interpretation.

4. An objective consensus on a fundamental reality that has been agreed upon by a substantial number of experts.

5. Information about a particular subject, especially actual conditions and/or circumstances.

6. (databases) An individual value or measurement at the lowest level of granularity in a data warehouse.
7. (archaic) Action; the realm of action.
8. (law, obsolete except in set phrases) A wrongful or criminal deed.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:

     She was empassiond at that piteous act, / With zelous enuy of Greekes cruell fact, / Against that nation [...].

9. (obsolete) A feat or meritorious deed.

Antonyms

• (Something actual): fiction

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• value
• opinion
• belief

References

• fact at OneLook Dictionary Search
• fact in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fact in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "Conway: 'Alternative Facts'" Merriam-Webster's Trend Watch Merriam-Webster. 2017.

Interjection

fact

1. Used before making a statement to introduce it as a trustworthy one.

Anagrams

• acft