different between factotum vs polymath

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

Alternative forms

• polumathe, polymathe [both 17th century]

Etymology

First attested in 1624; from the Ancient Greek ????????? (polumath?s, “having learnt much”), from ????? (polús, “much”) + ???? (máth?) (math?, “learning”; from ??????? (manthán?), manthan? “I learn”); compare opsimath, philomath, polyhistor, polymathic, polymathist, and polymathy, as well as the French polymathe.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?l?mæ?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?li?mæ?/, /?p?l?mæ?/

Noun

polymath (plural polymaths)

1. A person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.
   • 1624, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (2^nd edn.), p.6:

     To be thought and held Polumathes and Polihistors.

Synonyms

• polyhistor
• renaissance man

Antonyms

• monomath

Coordinate terms

• factotum, handyman, jack of all trades, sciolist

Related terms

• automath
• polymathy
• polymathic
• polymathist

Translations

References

• “polymath, n. (a.)” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd ed., 1989]
• “polymath, n. and adj.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [3rd ed., September 2006]