Jack of all trades

"Jack of all trades, master of none" is a figure of speech used in reference to a person who is competent with many skills but is not outstanding in any one. The term has become a cliché and often used as an insult in its current form, which is only half of the quote. The full quote, "Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one" is actually a compliment. The term stemming from it, just "Jack of all trades" is usually seen as a compliment to someone who can adapt to most situations.

A Jack of all trades may also be a master of integration, as the individual knows enough from many learned trades and skills to be able to bring their disciplines together in a practical manner, and in not a specialist. Such a person is known as a polymath or a Renaissance man, and a typical example is someone like Leonardo da Vinci.

Other languages

In Elizabethan England, the synonymous quasi-New Latin term Johannes factotum ("Johnny do-it-all") was sometimes used, with the same negative connotation that "Jack of all trades" sometimes has today. The term was famously used by Robert Greene in the earliest surviving published reference to William Shakespeare.

In Spanish, the expression is aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada ("apprentice of everything, teacher of nothing"). In Brazilian Portuguese, the expression pau para toda obra (literally, "wood for every construction")<ref><http://activerain.com/blogsview/645453/JOATMON-it-s-all/ref> is also commonly used, but with positive connotation, describing someone who is able and willing to serve many tasks (with enough competence).