means The quality of being new, original, or unusual — or a small, cheap, mass-produced trinket prized mostly for being amusingly new.

from From Latin novellus, 'new, young, fresh,' a diminutive of novus, 'new' — the same ancient root that gives us 'novel,' 'innovate,' and 'renovate.' It reached English through Old French novelté, carrying the sense of newness; only later did the word shrink into the world of gimmicks and party-shop gadgets, where the new wears off fastest of all.