Gadget

A small device, especially an ingenious or novel one.

While it is 100% certain that “gadget” came from French in the 19th century, the exact origin isn’t 100% agreed upon. This is our favorite version: It was the Frenchman Gaget and his associate Gauthier that constructed, with their workers, the Statue of Liberty. For it’s inauguration in New York in 1886, Gaget had the brilliant idea to create tiny replicas and named them after their firm. The name stuck, and Americans adopted the word.