- The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet.
- A very small amount; a bit: not an iota of truth to that tale.
[Latin iōta, from Greek, of Phoenician origin.]
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[Latin iōta, from Greek, of Phoenician origin.]
Very small or insignificant quantity.
noun
After I decided to be an artist, the first thing that I had to believe was that I, a black woman, could penetrate the art scene, and that, further, I could do so without sacrificing one iota of my blackness or my femaleness or my humanity.
— Faith Ringgold, African American painter and sculptor.
Iota (uppercase Ι, lowercase ι) is the ninth letter of the Greek
alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 10. It was derived
from the Phoenician letter Yodh (![]()
Iota represents /i/ (as in English beet). In ancient Greek it occurred in both long and short versions, but this distinction has been lost in Modern Greek.
Iota participated as the second element in falling diphthongs, with both long and short vowels as the first element. Where the first element was long, the iota was lost in pronunciation at an early date, and was written in polytonic orthography as iota subscript in other words as a very small ι under the main vowel, for instance ᾼ ᾳ ῌ ῃ ῼ ῳ
The word is used in a common English phrase, 'not one iota of difference', to signify a meaningless distinction (lit. "not even a small difference"). The phrase derives from the introduction to the Antithesis of the Law in the Gospel of Matthew (a jot or a tittle), and became common in the theological debate which arose around the time of the First Council of Nicaea, regarding the nature of the Holy Trinity. The argument centered on which of two alternative Greek words, differing only in a single 'iota' letter, should be used in describing Jesus' relationship to the Holy Trinity. One word, 'homoousios', would mean that Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father, and the other 'homoiousios', would mean that Jesus was of similar substance.
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - bagatel, tøddel, jota
Français (French)
n. - (lit) iota, (fig) once, iota
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (το ελληνικό γράμμα) γιώτα, ιώτα, (μτφ.) κεραία, ελάχιστη ποσότητα, τίποτα
Italiano (Italian)
iota (lettera greca), un briciolo, una virgola (in espress. idiom.)
Português (Portuguese)
n. - iota (f) (letra grega)
Русский (Russian)
йота (буква греческого алфавита), мельчайшая доля
Español (Spanish)
n. - pizca, ápice, novena letra del alfabeto griego
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (grekiska bokstaven) iota, jota (bildl.)
中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
希腊语字母第九个, 极微小
中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 希臘語字母第九個, 極微小
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 그리스어 알파벳의 아홉번째 글자, 아주 조금
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) الحرف التاسع في الأبجديه اليونانيه, ذرة, مقدار ضئيل
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - שמץ, כהוא-זה, יוטה (אות יוונית)
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