A cheap, showy object of poor quality; a trinket or bauble that looks nice but is flimsy or worthless.
Origin uncertain, possibly from 17th century slang combining 'gim' (meaning trick or gimmick) with 'crack' (meaning excellence). May also relate to Old Norse or Middle English sources, but the exact origin remains disputed among etymologists.
Gimcrack perfectly captures why fast fashion and cheap knockoffs exist—humans have always been attracted to showy, cheap things, and Victorian era people had the same problem we do now, except they had to use this one word instead of scrolling through online storefronts.
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