jack of all trades
UK/ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔːl ˈtɹeɪdz/US/ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔl ˈtɹeɪdz/
jack of all trades noun: one competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.
Noun (1)
jack of all trades (plural jacks of all trades)
- One competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.
- 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.1618, G[effray] M[ynshul], “Of Entertainment in Prison”, in Essayes and Characters of a Prison and Prisoners, London: […] [George Eld] for Mathew Walbancke, […], →OCLC, pages 23–24
- 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...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[eorge] P[almer] Putnam &...
- Synonyms:
- all-rounder, factotum, generalist, jack of all trades, master of none, sciolist
- Antonyms:
- jackass of all trades
Noun (2) capitalized: Jack of all Trades
Jack of all Trades (plural Jacks of all Trades)
- Alternative letter-case form of jack of all trades.
Noun (3) capitalized: Jack of all trades
Jack of all trades (plural Jacks of all trades)
- Alternative letter-case form of jack of all trades.
jack of all trades meaning in Arabic, Malay and Persian
jack of all trades in Arabic
- one competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them
- جاك لجميع المهن
jack of all trades in Malay
- one competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them
- jaguh serbawan
jack of all trades in Persian
- one competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them
- همهکاره و هیچکاره
Synonyms of jack of all trades
Antonyms
Forms of jack of all trades
| plural | jacks of all trades |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Jack-at-all-trades |
| alternative form | Jack of all trades |
| alternative form | Jack of all Trades |
| alternative form | jack-of-all-trades |
| alternative form | Jack-of-all-trades |
| plural | Jacks of all Trades |
| plural | Jacks of all trades |
Origin of jack of all trades
From jack (“typical man, fellow”) + of + all + trades.
Words formed from jack of all trades
Words that rhyme with jack of all trades
Questions about jack of all trades
- What does jack of all trades mean?
- Jack of all trades means one competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.
- What is jack of all trades in Arabic?
- Jack of all trades in Arabic is جاك لجميع المهن. See Jack of all trades meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is jack of all trades?
- Jack of all trades is a noun.
- How do you pronounce jack of all trades?
- Jack of all trades is pronounced /ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔːl ˈtɹeɪdz/ (UK).
- What is the plural of jack of all trades?
- The plural of jack of all trades is jacks of all trades.
Words near jack of all trades in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jack of all trades (page history and authors); Jack of all Trades (page history and authors); Jack of all trades (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-jack of all trades.ogg.
Cite this entry: “jack of all trades.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jack_of_all_trades. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.