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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
John R. Delaney, PC Magazine, 11 Sep. 2025
Remarkably, his passion and bravura haven’t diminished an iota with age.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 16 Aug. 2025
From the historic Slippery Noodle Inn—Indiana's oldest tavern—to creative cocktail bars and farm-to-table restaurants, Indianapolis has big-city luxuries without losing an iota of small-town charm.
—Iona Brannon, Travel + Leisure, 9 Aug. 2025
But from their perspective, the move into the ACC was a no-brainer — and that feeling hasn’t changed an iota.
—Jon Wilner, Mercury News, 8 Aug. 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 4 Nov. 2025.
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