gadget

The word's origin is unknown. It first appeared in print in 1886, used by Robert Brown, and possible sources include the French gâchette or gagée, or the surname of Gaget, an industrialist who made promotional trinkets tied to the Statue of Liberty project.

There isn't enough documented history to trace a clear shift in meaning — it seems to have entered English in 1886 already carrying its modern sense of a small mechanical device.

It may share a root with the French word gâchette, or trace back to the surname Gaget.