jot
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /d͡ʒɒt/
ipa: [d͡ʒɔʔ]
ipa: /d͡ʒɑt/
rhymes: -ɒt
Forms: form: jots
Etymology: The noun is borrowed from Latin iōta (“the letter iota of the Ancient Greek alphabet”), from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta, “ninth letter of the Ancient Greek alphabet; (figurative) very small part of writing, jot”), from Phoenician 𐤉 (y‬, “tenth letter of the Phoenician abjad, yodh”). Doublet of iota and yodh.
Sense 3 (“brief and hurriedly written note”) is derived from the verb.
The verb is probably borrowed from Scots jot, from English jot (noun): see above.
Senses: examples: text: This bond doth giue thee here no iote of blood, / The vvords expreſly are a pound of fleſh: / Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of fleſh, / But in the cutting of it, if thou doſt ſhed / One drop of Chriſtian blood, thy lands and goods / Are by the lavves of Venice, confiſcate / Vnto the State of Venice.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], signature [H4], verso:
text: For verily I ſay vnto you, Till heauen and earth paſſe, one iote or one tittle, ſhall in no wiſe paſſe from the law, till all be fulfilled.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:18, column 1:
text: Of old, men said, "Sin not; / By every line and jot / Ye shall abide; man's heart is false and vile."
ref: 1904, Bliss Carman, “Christmas Eve at St. Kavin’s”, in Songs from a Northern Garden (Pipes of Pan; no. 4), Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, →OCLC, page 107:
glosses: The smallest letter or stroke of any writing; an iota.
examples: text: He didn’t care a jot for his work.
text: Sir, the People muſt haue their Voiyes, / Neyther vvill they bate / One iot of Ceremonie.
ref: c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 11, column 2:
text: After this I ſpent a great deal of Time and Pains to make me an Umbrella; I vvas indeed in great vvant of one, and had a great mind to make one; I had ſeen them made in the Braſils, vvhere they are very uſeful in the great Heats vvhich are there: And I felt the Heats every jot as great here, and greater too, being nearer the Equinox; […]
ref: 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 159:
text: [T]hough Richard [III] vvas purſued and killed as a uſurper, the Solomon that ſucceeded him [Henry VII of England], vvas not a jot leſs a tyrant.
ref: 1768, Horace Walpole, “The Murder of His Brother Clarence”, in Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 31:
text: "If they had uncles enough to fill all Cheapside," cried Bingley, "it would not make them one jot less agreeable."
ref: 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 79:
text: For mark you, Tavy, the artist’s work is to show us ourselves as we really are. Our minds are nothing but this knowledge of ourselves; and he who adds a jot to such knowledge creates new mind as surely as any woman creates new men.
ref: 1901–1903, [George] Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman. A Comedy and a Philosophy, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1903, →OCLC, Act I, page 23:
text: What does that matter? Arsenic would put poor Emily out of the way just as well as strychnine. If I'm convinced he did it, it doesn't matter a jot to me how he did it.
ref: 1920 October, Agatha Christie, “Fresh Suspicions”, in The Mysterious Affair at Styles […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1927, pages 182–183:
text: Up to that point, Tottenham had not had a shot on target. They were not to have another. It didn't matter a jot.
ref: 2025 May 21, Simon Stone, “Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport:
synonyms: word: ace
word: tinge
word: atom
word: trace element
word: aught
word: bissel
word: bit
word: crumb
word: glimpse
word: dab
word: damn
word: dash
word: diddly
word: glint
word: dot
word: spatter
word: drop
word: dusting
word: fleck
word: hint
word: flip
word: flyspeck
word: grain
word: halfpennyworth
word: inch
word: iota
word: jot
word: lick
word: mite
word: modicum
word: molecule
word: morceau
word: morsel
word: mote
word: ooch
word: ounce
word: particle
word: pennyworth
word: piece
word: pinch
word: scantling
word: semblance
word: scent
word: scintilla
word: scooch
word: scrap
word: scruple
word: shred
word: skerrick
word: skoosh
word: skosh
word: sliver
word: smattering
word: smidge
word: smidgen
word: smidget
word: smidgy
word: smitch
word: smithereen
word: soupçon
word: spark
word: speck
word: speckle
word: spot
word: sprinkle
word: sprinkling
word: strain
word: tad
word: tidbit
word: tidge
word: tittle
word: toddick
word: touch
word: trace
word: trifle
word: tuppence worth
word: vestige
word: whiff
word: whit
glosses: A small, or the smallest, amount of a thing; a bit, a whit.
raw_tags: in the negative
examples: text: So vveake my povvres, ſo ſore my vvounds appeare, / that vvonder is hovv I ſhould liue a iot, / ſeeing my hart through launched euery vvhere / vvith thouſand arrovves, vvhich your eies haue ſhot: […]
ref: 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LVII”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature [D6], recto:
text: No faith, Ile not ſtay a iot longer: […]
ref: c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 266, column 1:
text: Making my Death familiar to my Tongue / Digs not my Grave one Jot before the Date.
ref: 1727 December 24 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Lew[is] Theobald, W[illiam] Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], Double Falshood; or, The Distrest Lovers. […], London: […] J. Watts, […], published 1728, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:
synonyms: word: ace
word: tinge
word: atom
word: trace element
word: aught
word: bissel
word: bit
word: crumb
word: glimpse
word: dab
word: damn
word: dash
word: diddly
word: glint
word: dot
word: spatter
word: drop
word: dusting
word: fleck
word: hint
word: flip
word: flyspeck
word: grain
word: halfpennyworth
word: inch
word: iota
word: jot
word: lick
word: mite
word: modicum
word: molecule
word: morceau
word: morsel
word: mote
word: ooch
word: ounce
word: particle
word: pennyworth
word: piece
word: pinch
word: scantling
word: semblance
word: scent
word: scintilla
word: scooch
word: scrap
word: scruple
word: shred
word: skerrick
word: skoosh
word: skosh
word: sliver
word: smattering
word: smidge
word: smidgen
word: smidget
word: smidgy
word: smitch
word: smithereen
word: soupçon
word: spark
word: speck
word: speckle
word: spot
word: sprinkle
word: sprinkling
word: strain
word: tad
word: tidbit
word: tidge
word: tittle
word: toddick
word: touch
word: trace
word: trifle
word: tuppence worth
word: vestige
word: whiff
word: whit
word: jiff
word: mo
word: sec
word: bat of an eye
word: bit
word: blink of an eye
word: crack
word: eyeblink
word: flash
word: glimpse
word: half a mo
word: instant
word: jiff
word: jiffy
word: jot
word: minute
word: mo
word: moment
word: New York minute
word: New York second
word: no time
word: sec
word: second
word: span
word: split-second
word: spurt
word: stound
word: tick
word: trice
word: twink
word: twinkle
word: twinkling
word: while
glosses: A small, or the smallest, amount of a thing; a bit, a whit.
An instant, a moment.
raw_tags: in the negative
examples: text: "Lover," you say; "how beautiful that is, / That little word!” […] / Yes, it is beautiful. I have marked it long, / Long in my dusty head its jot secreted, / Yet my heart never knew this word a song / Till in the night softly by you repeated.
ref: 1920, Robert Nichols, “Sonnets to Aurelia [Sonnet IV]”, in Aurelia & Other Poems, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 29:
glosses: A brief and hurriedly written note.
Derived terms: jot and tittle
Related terms: tittle