marotte

noun2

1. •
   A jester's dummy, bauble, or sceptre.

   • The cover seemed to sum it all up—a depressed jester gazing forlornly at his ‘marotte’ as if desperate for inspiration. — 2020
2. •
   A quirk, an obsession.

   • During the summer Henry had been on the best of terms with his chief, but he had been first irritated, and then alarmed at Picquart’s fixation on Esterhazy, his ‘marotte’. — 2011