A small decorative stone or gem, typically a rhinestone, set in jewelry or costume pieces for sparkle and shine.
From French chaton, diminutive of 'chat' (cat), which came from Latin cattus. The term likely referred to the cat-like gleam of the stone, or possibly the dome-shaped setting resembled a cat's eye.
Fashion borrowed this word directly from French, and it stayed because 'chaton' sounds more elegant than 'fake jewel'—sometimes the foreign word feels fancier and sticks around. Language snobbery actually shapes what we call things.
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