mot

word; note, (short) message; answer to an enigma

“Le poète est bien plus un évocateur de sentiments et d'images qu'un arrangeur de rimes et de mots.” — The poet is rather more an evoker of feelings and images than an arranger of rhymes and words.

Inherited from Middle French mot, from Old French mot, from Late Latin muttum (“sound”), from muttīre (“mutter, make a mu-noise”), of onomatopoeic origin. Has almost entirely replaced parole in Modern French, perhaps because of its brevity. Compare Catalan mot.