iota

See also: Iota, IOTA, ióta, ìota, and íota

English

WOTD – 8 June 2008

Ancient Greek Alphabet

← theta		→ kappa
Ι ι Ancient Greek: ἰῶτα
Wikipedia article on iota

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *yad- (“hand”). Doublet of yodh.

• (jot): In reference to a phrase in the New Testament: "until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law" (Mt 5:18), iota being the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪˈəʊtə/
• Rhymes: -əʊtə
• IPA^(key): /aɪˈoʊtə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

iota (plural iotas)

1. The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet.

   As a Greek numeral, iota represents ten.

   There are twelve iotas on that page.

2. A jot; a very small, insignificant quantity.
   • 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:

     They never depart an iota from the authentic formulas of tyranny and usurpation.

   • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 99:

     His expression had not changed one iota except perhaps for an additional tightening of his lips.

   • 1982, John Cleve, Spaceways #7: The Manhuntress, page xviii. 194:

     [E]very iota of its gravitic power.

Synonyms

• (jot): See Thesaurus:modicum

Derived terms

• iota subscript

Translations

Greek letter

• Aghwan: 𐔺𐕒𐔳 (yod)
• Arabic: إِيُوتَا f (ʔiyūtā)
• Catalan: iota (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 約塔／约塔 (zh) (yāotǎ)

• Czech: jota f, iota f, ióta f
• Dutch: jota (nl) c
• Esperanto: joto (eo)
• Finnish: ioota (fi)
• French: iota (fr) m
• Galician: iota (gl) m
• Georgian: იოტა (ioṭa)
• German: Jota (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌾𐍉𐍄𐌰 n (jōta)
• Greek: γιώτα (el) n (gióta), ιώτα (el) n (ióta)

  Ancient: ἰῶτα n (iôta)

• Hungarian: ióta
• Ido: iota (io)
• Interlingua: iota
• Italian: iota (it)
• Japanese: イオタ (iota), イオータ (iōta)
• Korean: 요타 (ko) (yota)
• Latin: iota (la) n
• Malay: iota
• Polish: jota (pl) f
• Portuguese: iota (pt) m
• Romanian: iota
• Russian: йо́та (ru) f (jóta), ио́та (ru) f (ióta) (dated)
• Spanish: iota (es) f
• Tagalog: iyota
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

small quantity

• Aghwan: 𐔺𐕒𐔳 (yod)
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian:

  Old Armenian: յովտ (yovt)

• Catalan: iota (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: jota (nl) c
• Finnish: hitunen (fi), hiven (fi)
• Georgian: იოტა (ioṭa), ერთი ბეწო (erti bec̣o)
• Hebrew: קוֹצוֹ שֶׁל יוֹד (he) m (qotzó shel yod)
• Hungarian: jotta
• Ido: iota (io)
• Interlingua: iota
• Italian: briciolo (it) m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: pilus m
• Polish: jota (pl) f
• Portuguese: pingo (pt) m
• Russian: йо́та (ru) f (jóta), ио́та (ru) f (ióta)
• Spanish: poco (es)
• Swabian: Muggaseggele n
• Swedish: jota (sv) n, dugg (sv) n, dyft (sv) n, smula (sv) c
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

• Oita

Catalan

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta). Doublet of jota.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈjɔ.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈjɔ.ta]
• Hyphenation: io‧ta

Noun

iota f (plural iotes)

1. iota (Greek letter)
2. iota (small amount)

Further reading

• “iota” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “iota”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “iota” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “iota” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɔ.ta/

Noun

iota m (plural iota)

1. iota (Greek letter)
2. jot, iota (negligible amount)

Derived terms

• d’un iota

Further reading

• “iota”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• ôtai

Galician

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta).

Noun

iota m (plural iotas)

1. iota (Greek letter)
2. The name of the Latin-script letter J/j.

Further reading

• “iota”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024

Hawaiian

Noun

1. The name of the Latin-script letter J/j.

Italian

Alternative forms

• jota (obsolete)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɔ.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɔta
• Hyphenation: iò‧ta

Noun

iota m or f (invariable)

1. the name of the Greek-script letter Ι/ι; iota
2. (obsolete) Synonym of i lunga

Anagrams

• -toia, aito, aitò, iato

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈi̯oː.ta/, [ˈi̯oːt̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈjo.ta/, [ˈjɔːt̪ä]

Disyllabic in Latin, despite being trisyllabic in Ancient Greek.

Noun

iōta n (indeclinable) or iōta f (genitive iōtae); first declension

1. iota (Greek letter)

Declension

Either indeclinable, or First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	iōta	iōtae
Genitive	iōtae	iōtārum
Dative	iōtae	iōtīs
Accusative	iōtam	iōtās
Ablative	iōtā	iōtīs
Vocative	iōta	iōtae

References

• “iota”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• iota in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔtɐ

Noun

iota m (plural iotas)

1. iota (the ninth Greek letter: ι, Ι)

Related terms

• jota

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /iˈota/ [iˈo.t̪a], /ˈʝota/ [ˈɟ͡ʝo.t̪a]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /iˈota/ [iˈo.t̪a], /ˈʝota/ [ˈɟ͡ʝo.t̪a]
• IPA^(key): (Argentina and Uruguay) /iˈota/ [iˈo.t̪a], /ˈjota/ [ˈjo.t̪a]

• Rhymes: -ota
• Syllabification: i‧o‧ta, io‧ta

Noun

iota f (plural iotas)

1. iota (Greek letter)

Further reading

• “iota”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16