Baubles

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Colorful decorations or trinkets that add flair to outfits or surroundings
2. Cheap, decorative accessories designed to enhance visual appeal during celebrations or festive occasions
3. Small ornamental objects used to decorate, especially during holidays ; cheap, showy items lacking serious value

Etymology: The jester's staff came first. In late medieval France, a "baubel" was a trifle or toy, and in English it was often a fool's mace, a short stick topped with a carved head and sometimes bells, carried by court jesters as a mock sceptre. The word entered English around the 14th century, and its exact origin is uncertain. Etymologists have proposed links to Old Provençal and Middle French words for a foolish or silly person, but none is firmly established. Over the following centuries the meaning drifted from the jester's prop to any cheap, showy object of little real worth. That sense of worthless glitter is what let the word attach to ornaments and decorative trinkets, and it still carries a faint note of frivolity. Its modern meaning of bright decorative objects for clothing or rooms grew naturally from that idea of gaudy, unimportant finery.

Synonyms: trinkets, ornaments, gems, jewels

Antonyms: valuables, treasures