doodad

noun

Etymology: Unknown; attested since the 1880s. Compare earlier daud (“a piece of something”), later doohickey (“a thing (whose name one cannot recall)”), dialectal dad, dadge (“a large piece, chunk”).

1. Used to refer to something whose name one cannot recall: an unspecified device, gadget, part, or thing.

   “My mom has a clever doodad for peeling oranges.”

   “Of course I eat an apple every evening—an apple a day keeps the doctor away—but still, you ought to have more prunes, and not all these fancy doodads.”