German

Noun

eierlegende Wollmilchsau f ‎(genitive eierlegender Wollmilchsau, plural eierlegende Wollmilchsäue)

1. (idiomatic, colloquial, often disapprovingly) An all-in-one device or person which has (or claims to have) only positive attributes and which can (or attempts to) do the work of several specialized tools.
   • 2002, Dietmar Prudix, Oliver Prüfer, Die Eierlegende Wollmilchsau, page 7:

     Die eierlegende Wollmilchsau (der Bewerber, der alles kann und keine Schwächen hat) lebt - in den Köpfen von Job-Entscheidern und in den Köpfen von Arbeitsplatzsuchenden.

     The egg-laying wooly milk-pig (the applicant who can do everything and has no weaknesses) exists - in the heads of hiring managers and in the heads of those seeking jobs.

Declension

See also

• English: Swiss Army knife; all-in-one; chief cook and bottle washer, thneed, jack of all trades, master of none

References

1. ↑ Der Kampf um das eierlegende Wollschwein, printed in Ludwig Renn zum 70. Geburtstag (Aufbau-Verlag Berlin, 1959), page 135