Iota

//aɪˈoʊtə// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ι, ι).

    "As a Greek numeral, iota represents ten."

  2. 2
    A bank account that earns interest and pays it to a third party, generally a charity; the principal is typically being held in escrow by the accountholder.
  3. 3
    the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet wordnet
  4. 4
    The Latin letter Ɩ (minuscule: ɩ).
  5. 5
    a tiny or scarcely detectable amount wordnet
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    A jot; a very small, insignificant quantity.

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

Synonyms

All synonyms
scintillashredsmidgesmidgentittlewhit

Antonyms

All antonyms
oodles

Example

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"This couple approaches humor so dryly that enormous chains of jokes will blossom without an iota of laughter."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *yad- (“hand”). Doublet of jot and yodh. Sense “jot, small quantity” in reference to a phrase in the New Testament: ”one iote or one title, shall in no wise passe from the law”, iota being the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet.

Etymology 2

Acronym of interest on trust account.

Related phrases

iota adscriptiota subscriptgreek alphabetlittle bitminiscule particlesmallest quantitythird partytiny bit

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.