jack of all trades
/ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔːl ˈtɹeɪdz/
"jack-of-all-trades" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jack of all trades” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 18
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.
Corpus desk
Index EN-jack-of-all-trades · jack of all trades · English
jack of all trades · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 18 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "J" 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 | jack of all trades |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔːl ˈtɹeɪdz/ |
| Letters | 18 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “jack of all trades” in English
Rare enough to double-check
jack of all trades is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔːl ˈtɹeɪdz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "One competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.".
No misspelling variants are generated for jack of all trades in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From jack (“typical man, fellow”) + of + all + trades. The correct English form is jack of all trades, spelled J-A-C-K- -O-F- -A-L-L- -T-R-A-D-E-S.
Definition
- 1One competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how jack of all trades appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
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.
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.
Etymology
From jack (“typical man, fellow”) + of + all + trades.
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.