Word of the Day

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

factotum

\fak-TOH-tuhm\ , noun;

A person employed to do all kinds of work or business.

Quotes:

Mr. Hersey thus became Mr. Lewis's summertime factotum, copying pages of a play that Lewis was writing about Communism.

-- Richard Severo, "John Hersey, Author of 'Hiroshima,' Is Dead at 78", New York Times, March 25, 1993

She is a blind, paraplegic forensic hypnotist, and he is her brother and general factotum.

-- Newgate Callendar, "Spies & Thrillers", New York Times, July 31, 1994

Origin:

Factotum is from Medieval Latin, from Latin fac totum, "do everything," from facere, "to do" + totus, "all."