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Iota and Jot
Feel free to jot this down so you don’t forget: the words iota and jot share a lot more than just a common meaning—both ultimately come from the same word. When Latin scholars transcribed the Greek name of the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, they spelled it as either iota or jota (the letters i and j were simply variants of each other), and these spellings eventually passed into English as iota and jot. Since the Greek letter iota is the smallest letter of its alphabet, both words eventually came to be used in reference to very small things.
Examples of iota in a Sentence
Julian McKenzie, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
Does anyone on this program have one iota of a survival instinct in their doomed bodies?
—Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 25 Apr. 2025
By finally publishing it in the party’s flagship journal, the inference is that none of the intervening turmoil has made China’s leadership alter course one iota.
—Charlie Campbell, TIME, 5 Mar. 2025
As anyone who’s watched an iota of sports programming over the past few years can attest, the betting business doesn’t traffic in subtlety.
—Sean Gregory / Boston, TIME, 27 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for iota
Cite this Entry
“Iota.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/iota. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
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