Meaning

noun a brief (and hurriedly handwritten) note

noun a slight but appreciable amount

verb write briefly or hurriedly; write a short note of

originThe 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. Etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“brief and hurriedly written note”) is derived from the verb.…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0