means A fixed share, number, or amount that's either required to be met or allowed as a maximum, often imposed on production, sales, immigration, or representation.

from From Latin 'quota pars'—literally 'how great a part,' from 'quotus' meaning 'of what number' (itself from 'quot,' 'how many'). The phrase asked the bookkeeper's eternal question: what's each person's slice of the whole? English clipped it down to just 'quota' by the early 17th century, keeping the arithmetic and losing the philosophy.