I came across this word modicum, which seems a fancy way of saying a little bit.
What's the nuances when using it?
Can I say "a modicum of coffee"? -- I usually order latte with tiny amount of coffee, since I'm caffeine sensitive.
I tried searching on the internet, didn't find it around this kind of usage.
Any suggestion or discussion on this is welcome, thanks in advance :)
I searched COCA for modicum of *. Here's the list of nouns that had 3 or more results:
respect, privacy, control, dignity, stability, success, intelligence, justice, effort, security, sense, peace, order, decency, comfort, civility, relief, education, hope, knowledge, interest, discretion, protection, support, talent, trust, truth, understanding, research, decorum, cooperation, credibility, fame, grace, independence, normalcy, respectability, restraint, safety, sanity, wealth, sympathy, time, skill, wisdom, water, self-respect, science, shame, social, light, pride, prosperity, pressure, inquiry, integrity, happiness, courage, courtesy, deterrence, empathy, evidence, exercise, confidence
It's a list of almost entirely abstract items. And when I looked at the hits for "water", I found that all three referred to water as a utility (including one use that used it as an attribute noun: water flow).
The usage you want would not be common as I couldn't find a similar example even among the lower-frequency results.
(Modicum as a loose unit of measure did have some usage a long time ago, as COHA indicates. Most bizarrely, I was able to find an example of "a modicum of eggs". Alas this is wording from a bygone era.)
Instead, you can call it a "splash of coffee":
Where there are no judgements for adding a splash of milk- or just a splash of coffee! — Cohesive Coffee
modicum (n.)
In singular A small quantity of a particular thing, especially something considered desirable or valuable.
It's done in a spirit of fun, and relies on a modicum of good faith among the participants.’Lexico
A small quantity or portion; a moderate or limited amount. (Often modified by little, small, tiny.)
Of food, drink, or the like.
1992 B. Unsworth What I generally have at this time of afternoon..is a syllabub of cream and thin cider, sweetened with a modicum of honey.
Of money or other property.
1990 Amer. Rifleman Those DCM juniors we select can expect a travel allowance from their home to Fort Benning and back, housing and a modicum of spending money for meals.
gen. (chiefly of immaterial things).
Pract. Photogr.—Pictures taken with just a modicum of imagination. OED
QUANTIFIER A modicum of something, especially something that is good or desirable, is a reasonable but not large amount of it.
[formal]
I'd like to think I've had a modicum of success.
...a modicum of privacy. Collins
modicum (plural modicums or (rare) modica)
A modest, small, or trifling amount.
Etymology From Late Middle English modicum, borrowed from Latin modicum (“a little, a small amount”), a noun use of the neuter form of modicus (“moderate; restrained, temperate; reasonable”) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Modicus is derived from modus (“a measure; a bound, limit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). [OUP cited]
The plural form modica is derived from Latin modica.
1988, Terry Gilliam; Charles McKeown, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, spoken by Baron Munchausen (John Neville): I have learned from experience that a modicum of snuff can be most efficacious. Wiktionary
Modicum appears in a few book titles, e.g., Armando Heredia; An Artist of Modicum Success. (2016)
Whether or not matter claimed to be a trade secret "possesses at least that modicum of originality which will separate it from every day knowledge" is a question of fact which must attend the trial. Roger Milgrim; Milgrim on Trade Secrets, Vol. 1 (1992) (Snippet View)
From these data it appears that following perturbation, and once the soil has developed some cover sufficient to provide shade and deposit a modicum of litter, it becomes less acidic and aluminum content decreases. S. Darwin and A. Welden; Biogeography of Mesoamerica (1992)
Moreover, they brew this Chinese herb with boiling water and then sip the hot infusion to benefit their health, and when the infusion verges on being too bitter, the well to do may add a modicum of sugar. George van Driem; The Tale of Tea (2019)
For whipped cream in my hot chocolate, I prefer dollop. Collins uses the label formal for its modicum examples. I agree with Stuart F's comment that some of the examples give a wry wink, and with Greybeard's that it can sound old-fashioned. Note that there were no comestibles among Lexico's many examples.
