Other forms: modica
A modicum is a small but not negligible amount. A modicum of sense, a modicum of comfort, not a modicum of proof.
It appears almost only as a modicum of, and it is nearly always used in complaint, as in a modicum of common sense would have prevented this. It belongs to abstract things rather than to countable ones.
1nounmodicumA small but not negligible amount.
“The job offers a modicum of security, but the pay is low.”
modicum is an amount.
Latin modicum means a little, from modus, a measure.
Proto-Indo-European
*med- — to measure
Latin
modicum — a little, a small amount
Middle English
modicum
English, today
modicum
Built from
From Middle English modicum, from Latin modicum (“a little, a small amount”), a noun use of the neuter form of modicus (“moderate; restrained, temperate; reasonable”) + -cum. Modicus is derived from modus (“a measure; a bound, limit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European med- (“to measure”)) + -icus. The plural form modica is derived from Latin modica.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA