iota

1. The ninth letter and fourth vowel in the Greek alphabet which is represented in the English alphabet as "I, i"; as a numeral, it refers to 10: The word "jot" (bit, particle, speck) is derived from iota, the smallest symbol in the Greek alphabet.
2. A very small amount or particle of something: Anyone with an iota of sense would know what to do before he or she goes outside when rains.

Ted's teacher told the principal of his school that there was not an iota of truth about the boy's reason for being tardy.

© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

1. The tendency in speakers of modern Greek to use the sound of iota in place of the sound of other vowel characters; such as, "eta" or "upsilon".
2. The practice in modern Greek of giving the pronunciation of iota "ee" to certain diphthongs and long vowels.

1. The smallest bit of something: The students in Jim's physics class have just a jot of knowledge about the subject.
2. To write down briefly or hastily for later reference: Tina jotted down the phone number of the washing machine repairman.
3. Etymology: a borrowing of Latin jota, variant spelling of Greek iota, "the letter i, the smallest letter in the alphabet", hence the least part of anything.