Tittle

The small distinguishing mark you see over a lowercase i and a lowercase j is called a tittle – an interesting name that seems like a combination of “tiny” and “little,” and refers to a small point or stroke in writing and printing. Derived from the Latin word titulus, meaning “inscription, heading,” the tittle initially appeared in Latin manuscripts beginning in the 11th century as a way of individualizing the neighboring letters i and j. With the introduction of the Roman-style typeface in the late 1400's, the original large mark was reduced to the small dot we use today.