Gizmo

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɡɪzmoʊ/

Definitions

1. A small mechanical or electronic device whose name is forgotten or unknown
2. A device or gadget, often intricate or novel, typically used for a specific purpose, especially in technology or engineering contexts
3. This refers to a compact mechanical or electronic object, usually designed to perform a particular function, that may not have a commonly recognized name

Etymology: Gizmo is one of those words whose origin is genuinely murky. Its earliest appearances are in American English, where it turned up as a loose, informal name for any gadget whose exact name had slipped someone's mind. The word tends to be used for devices that are small, handy and not quite worth naming precisely, which is much of its charm. Attempts to trace it back further run into a wall. Some have suggested links to older dialect or slang words, but none of these connections is firmly established, so it is safest to say that the word's ancestry remains unknown. What is clear is its function: it names the everyday object you can't quite describe, the thing in the junk drawer that does a job nobody has bothered to label.

Synonyms: gadget, device, contraption