From Late Middle English modicum, borrowed from Latin modicum, a noun use of the neuter form of modicus + -cum.

The plural form modica is derived from Latin modica.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈmɒdɪkəm/
• (America) IPA: /ˈmɑdɪkəm/, /-də-/

modicum (plural modicums)

1. A modest, small, or trifling amount.

   Synonyms: iota, jot, tittle, Thesaurus:modicum

   Antonyms: Thesaurus:lot

   Unable to garner even a modicum of support for his plan, he conceded to follow the others.

   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:

     Lo, lo, lo, lo, what modicums of wit he vtters, his euaſions haue ears thus long. I haue bobed his braine more then he has beate my bones.

   • 1876 May – 1877 July, Anthony Trollope, “Poor Caneback”, in The American Senator […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1877, →OCLC ↗, page 242 ↗:

     There he lay quiet and composed, sipping small modicums of brandy and water, and taking his outlook into such transtygian world as he had fashioned for himself in his dull imagination.

• French: minimum, modicum, montant modique
• German: Bisschen, Hauch, Spur, Winzigkeit, Mindestmaß
• Italian: un poco
• Portuguese: bocadinho, mínimo, pingo, um pouco de
• Russian: чу́точка
• Spanish: ápice, mínimo, pizca, resquicio