Bouton

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small knob or button used for fastening, often seen on clothing or accessories
2. A decorative embellishment or a mechanized component that functions by being pressed or activated
3. A term that can refer to a clickable element in software interfaces for executing commands or actions

Etymology: "Bouton" is a French word that English borrowed directly, and it sits in a curious pair with "button," its doublet. Doublets are words that share a single ancestor but reached English by different routes, so the two forms carry the same root along divergent paths. Here the common source is the French word for a bud, sprout or knob, which is what the English word "button" also descends from in its own way. The French form kept its original spelling and pronunciation, which signals a later, more deliberate borrowing rather than a word that wore down over centuries in English speech. Speakers who used "bouton" were usually reaching for a continental or fashionable tone, so the word tends to appear in discussions of clothing, jewellery and accessories where French terminology carried prestige. The result is a single idea, a small round fastener, expressed through two parallel streams of the same word.

Synonyms: button, knob, switch, fastener, push-button