Yod
/jɒd/noun
The name of the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, representing the consonant /j/.
Did you know?In Jewish mystical tradition, yod is often treated as the most minute but spiritually potent letter, and it appears in the divine name YHWH, giving it outsized symbolic force.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
PSem
*yad-
“a hand”
Proto-Northwest Semitic
PNWS
*yad
“hand”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
yod (י)
“the letter yod; also 'hand' in related Semitic forms”
Ancient Greek
Greek
iōta
“the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet”
Late Latin
Latin
iota
“the Greek letter iota”
Modern English
English
yod
“the name of the Hebrew letter yod”