bibelot

American  

[bib-loh, beeb^uh-loh] / ˈbɪb loʊ, bibəˈloʊ /

noun

plural

bibelots

1. a small object of curiosity, beauty, or rarity.

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bibelot British  

/ ˈbɪbləʊ, biblo /

noun

1. an attractive or curious trinket

2. a miniature book

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Etymology

Origin of bibelot

1870–75; < French, equivalent to bibel- (expressive formation akin to bauble ) + -ot noun suffix

Example Sentences

Gewgaw, a shiny trinket Bon Voyage A trinket or a knickknack, an ornament, a kickshaw, a frippery, a gimcrack, a bibelot, a gewgaw .

From Washington Post • Aug. 12, 2021

He finds it painful to see this memento of colonialism and bondage turned into an amusing bibelot, but he also loves the woman in whose household it is displayed.

From New York Times • Oct. 14, 2019

Serotonin is a tiny molecule, a bibelot built of just 10 carbon atoms, a dozen hydrogens, two nitrogens and a single oxygen.

From New York Times • May 2, 2011

At least this gross bibelot has some authenticity, as do Manuel Ocampo's frantic, heavy-handed but indubitably sincere paintings in an idiom derived from Filipino popular religious art.

From Time Magazine Archive

A very pleasant bibelot, but, I felt then, not a volume effective in catching the popular trade.

From The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces by Kilmer, Joyce