Cianfrusaglia is the Italian noun (f) for knick-knack, bric-à-brac, or junk. Basically ‘stuff,’ especially stuff of not much value. The plural is cianfrusaglie.
Word on the etymological street is that cianfrusaglia comes from the even more fun word to pronounce, cianciafruscola. That word then comes from ciancia, meaning idle chatter, and fruscolo/bruscolo, meaning a grain or speck of dust. I suppose useless rambling in some way relates to useless junk…?
Example:
‘Mi sono resa conto di quanta cianfrusaglia c’ho quando ho cambiato casa.’ – I realized just how much junk I have when I moved.
