factotum
/fækˈtəʊ.təm/
"factotum" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“factotum” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person having many diverse activities or responsibilities.
Corpus desk
Index EN-factotum · factotum · English
factotum · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | factotum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fækˈtəʊ.təm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “factotum” in English
Rare enough to double-check
factotum is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /fækˈtəʊ.təm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for factotum, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Ellipsis of domine fac totum, dominus fac totum /dominus factotum (“absolute ruler; head servant”), from Medieval Latin domine fac tōtum (“O Lord, do everything”), also with substition of nominative dominus for vocative domine. The correct English form is factotum, spelled F-A-C-T-O-T-U-M.
Definition
- 1A person having many diverse activities or responsibilities.
- 2A general servant.
- 3A person employed to do all sorts of duties.
- 4A jack of all trades.
- 5A large decorative printing block with a central space into which any letter can be inserted, used to mark the beginning of a chapter of a book in early printing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how factotum appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
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.
Susan Bonner’s mistress hearing of Strong’s arrival sent for him at this juncture, and the Chevalier went up to her ladyship not without hopes that he should find her more tractable than her factotum Mrs. Bonner.
Etymology
Ellipsis of domine fac totum, dominus fac totum /dominus factotum (“absolute ruler; head servant”), from Medieval Latin domine fac tōtum (“O Lord, do everything”), also with substition of nominative dominus for vocative domine.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.