Jack

See also: jack

English

Etymology

From Middle English Jackin, Jankin, a popular pet form of John; rarely also an anglicized form of French Jacques (equivalent of Jacob and James). It can be also used as nickname for Jacob. Though the name was originally a pet form, it has become more of an independent name. Equivalent to John + -kin, Jake or Jacques.

See also Middle French Hennequin, Jannequin and Middle Dutch Janneken.

Pronunciation

• enPR: jăk, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒæk/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æk

Proper noun

Jack (countable and uncountable, plural Jacks)

1. A unisex given name from Hebrew, also used as a pet form of John or more rarely, Jacob.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Since every Jack became a gentleman
     there's many a gentle person made a Jack.

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry, Sirnamed Hot-spvrre”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene iv, page 58, column 1:

     Heere comes leane Iacke, heere comes bare-bone. How now my ſweet Creature of Bombaſt, how long is't agoe, Iacke, ſince thou ſaw'ſt thine owne Knee?

   • 1895, Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest […] , [Act I]:

     JACK. Well, really, Gwendolen, I must say that I think that there are lots of other much nicer names. I think Jack, for instance, a charming name.
     GWENDOLEN. Jack?...No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations...I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John!

2. A surname.
3. (colloquial) Jack Daniel's, a brand of Tennessee whiskey.
   • 2009, "Ke$ha" (Kesha Rose Sebert), Tik Tok (song)

     Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack.

   • 2017, Halsey, Ricky Reed, Justin Tranter, Rogét Chahayed, “Bad at Love”, in Hopeless Fountain Kingdom‎^[1], performed by Halsey:

     Got a boy back home in Michigan / And it tastes like Jack when I'm kissing him / So I told him that I never really liked his friends / Now he's gone and he's calling me a bitch again

4. An unincorporated community in Coffee County, Alabama, United States.
5. An unincorporated community in Dent County, Missouri, United States.

Derived terms

• Happy Jack
• Jack County
• Jack Horner pie
• Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me
• Jack Presbyter
• Jack-pudding
• Jacksboro
• Jack-with-a-lantern

 

• diminutives: Jacky, Jackie
• surnames: Jackson

Descendants

• → Danish: Jack
• → Swedish: Jack

Translations

pet name of John

• Arabic: جَاك m (jak)
• Bengali: জ্যাক (jêk)
• Bulgarian: Джак m (Džak)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傑克／杰克 (zh) (Jiékè)

• Czech: Honza (cs) m, Honzík (cs) m
• Danish: Jack
• Esperanto: Ĵakvo, Joĉjo (eo)
• Finnish: Jussi (fi)
• French: Jeannot (fr) m
• German: Hans (de) m, Hanns (de) m, Hannes (de) m, Hänsel (de) m, Hansel m, Hansl m
• Greek: Γιάννης (el) m (Giánnis), Τζακ (el) (Tzak) (transliteration from English)
• Hindi:
• Hungarian: Jancsi (hu), Jankó (hu)
• Italian: Gianni (it) m
• Japanese: ジャック (ja) (Jakku)
• Korean: 잭 (Jaek)
• Latin: Iohannes m, Ioannes (la) m
• Maltese: Ġwakkin
• Maori: Haki
• Marathi: जॅक m (jĕk)
• Persian: جک (fa) (jak)
• Polish: Jasiek (pl) m, Jaś (pl) m
• Portuguese: João (pt) m
• Russian: Ва́ня (ru) m (Vánja), Джек (ru) m (Džek) (transliteration)
• Scottish Gaelic: Seoc m
• Slovak: Jano m, Janko m
• Slovene: Janko, Jani
• Spanish: Juanito (es) m
• Swedish: Jack (sv) c
• Welsh: Jac m

anglicized form of Jacques

• Abkhaz: Еқәыԥ (Ekʷəp)
• Afrikaans: Jakobus (af), Jaco, Jako
• Aghwan: 𐔺𐔰𐕄𐕒𐔱 (yaḳob)
• Arabic: جَاك m (jak), يَعْقُوب (ar) m (yaʕqūb), جَيْمْس m (jayms), جَايْمْز m (jaymz) (transliteration)
• Aragonese: Chaime
• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܝܥܩܘܒ

• Armenian: Հակոբ (hy) (Hakob)

  Old Armenian: Յակոբ (Yakob)

• Azerbaijani: Ceyms
• Bashkir: Яҡуп (Yaqup)
• Basque: Jakes
• Bavarian: Jakoub
• Belarusian: Я́каў m (Jákaŭ)
• Bengali: জ্যাক (jêk)
• Breton: Jagu, Jakez (br)
• Bulgarian: Яков m (Jakov), Джак m (Džak)
• Catalan: Jaume (ca), Xaume
• Cebuano: Santiago
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 雅各 (ngaa⁵ gok³)

  Eastern Min: 雅各 (Ngā-gáuk)

  Mandarin: 傑克／杰克 (zh) (Jiékè)

• Coptic: ⲓⲁⲕⲱⲃ (iakōb)
• Cornish: Jago
• Corsican: Ghjàcumu (co)
• Czech: Jakub (cs) m
• Danish: Jakob (da), Jacob, Jack
• Dutch: Jaap (nl), Jakob (nl), Jacob (nl), Jacobus
• Esperanto: Jakobo
• Estonian: Jaak
• Ewe: Yakob m
• Faroese: Jákup (fo), Jakob, Jacob
• Finnish: Jaakko (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: Jâque
• French: Jacques (fr), Jacob (fr), Jack (fr)
• Friulian: Jacum
• Galician: Iago (gl), Xacobe (gl), Xácome (gl), Xaime (gl), Santiago (gl) m
• Georgian: იაკობი (iaḳobi), ჯეიმზ (ǯeimz) (transliteration)
• German: Jakob (de), Jacob, Jakobus (de), Jacobus (de)
• Greek: Ιάκωβος (el) m (Iákovos), Ιακώβ (el) m (Iakóv), Τζέιμς (el) (Tzéims)

  Ancient Greek: Ἰάκωβος m (Iákōbos)

• Greenlandic: Jaaku (kl)
• Hausa: Yaƙubu
• Hawaiian: Kimo, Iakopo, Iakopa
• Hebrew: (transcription) ג׳ק m
• Hindi: जैक (jaik)
• Hungarian: Jakab (hu)
• Icelandic: Jakob (is), Jakop (is), Jaki (is), Jack (is)
• Ido: Iakobus (io) m
• Inuktitut: ᔮᑯᑉ (yaakop)
• Irish: Séamas (ga) m, Séamus m
• Italian: Giacomo (it), Giacobbe (it) m, Jacopo (it) m, Iago (it) m
• Japanese: ヤコブ (Yakobu), ジャック (ja) (Jakku), ジェームズ (Jēmuzu), ジェイムズ (Jeimuzu), サンティアゴ (ja) (Santiago)
• Korean: 야곱 (yagop), 야고보 (Yagobo), 제임스 (Jeimseu), 잭 (Jaek)
• Latin: Iacobus (la) m, Jacobus m, Jacomus (Late Latin)
• Latvian: Jēkabs m, (transliteration) Džeimss m
• Limburgish: Jakobus
• Lithuanian: Jokūbas
• Macedonian: Јаков m (Jakov)
• Malay: Yakub, Yaakub, Yaacob (British misspelling)
• Maltese: Ġakbu (mt)
• Manchu: ᠶᠠᡴᠣᠪ (yakob)
• Manx: Jamys (gv)
• Maori: Hākopa, Haki, Hēmi (mi)
• Marathi: जॅक m (jĕk)
• Navajo: Jéíkab
• Ngazidja Comorian: Yakub, Yakuba
• Norman: Jâcob m, Jimce m
• Northern Sami: Jáhkot
• Norwegian: Jakob (no), Jacob (no), Jack (no)
• Occitan: Jammes, James (oc), Jacme (oc) (Provençal), Jaume (oc)
• Persian: یعقوب (fa) (ya'qub), جیمز (fa) (jeymz)
• Polish: Jakub (pl)
• Portuguese: Jacó (pt) m, Iago (pt), Tiago (pt), Diogo (pt), Jaime (pt)
• Romanian: Iacob (ro)
• Russian: Я́ков (ru) (Jákov), Джеймс (ru) m (Džejms) (transliteration)
• Scots: Hamish, Jaucob, Jack, James, Jamie, Jeames, Peem
• Scottish Gaelic: Seumas (gd), Sheumais (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Јаков

  Roman: Jakov m

• Sicilian: Jàbbucu m, Jàcumu m
• Slovak: Jakub
• Slovene: Jakob (sl) m
• Spanish: Jacobo (es), Jacob (es), Santiago (es), Santi (es), Diego (es), Jaime (es), Yago (es), Iago
• Swahili: Yakobo (sw), Yaakub
• Swedish: Jakob (sv), Jacob (sv), Jack (sv) c
• Tagalog: Jaime, Santiago (tl)
• Thai: ยาโคบ (yaa-kôhp)
• Turkish: Yakub, Yakup
• Ukrainian: Я́ків m (Jákiv)
• Vietnamese: Giacôbê, Giacôbe, Giacóp, Giacơ, Yacôbê
• Walloon: Djåke (wa)
• Waray-Waray: Santiago
• Welsh: Jac m, Iago (cy)
• West Frisian: Jakobus, Japik
• Yiddish: יעקבֿ m (yakev)
• Zealandic: Jakobus

Noun

Jack (plural Jacks)

1. (informal) A placeholder or conventional name for any man, particularly a younger, lower-class man.
2. (informal, archaic) Ellipsis of Jack Tar., a sailor.
   • 1899, Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, section 1:

     When he went home on leave he rioted on a large scale—pompously. Jack ashore—with a difference—in externals only.

3. (informal, archaic) Ellipsis of Jack Rum., a soldier.
4. A jacqueminot rose.

Usage notes

Despite being a common noun, the word is still treated as a name and capitalized as such. The name is most often used with a descriptive "surname", showing the type of lad intended.

Synonyms

• John, Jacques, Jacob, James

Coordinate terms

• Joan, Jill, Jane

Derived terms

• all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
• every man Jack
• Jack and Jill
• Jack and Jill bathroom
• Jack and Jill bedroom
• Jack Benny
• Jack Frost
• Jack Ketch
• Jack the lad
• Jack o' the clock
• Jack of all trades
• Jack out of doors
• Jack Pudding
• Jack Robinson / before you can say Jack Robinson
• Jack Russell
• jacktar / Jack Tar
• Jack the Ripper
• Jack whore
• Monterey Jack
• Union Jack
• Whispering Jack

Danish

Etymology

From English Jack.

Proper noun

Jack

1. a male given name

Swedish

Etymology

From English Jack. First recorded as a Swedish name in 1883.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Jack c (genitive Jacks)

1. a male given name