toutou

doggie, bow-wow (dog); soft toy, stuffed animal; poodle (person servile towards someone whom they consider their superior)

“Sinon, bien sûr, on aurait fait un film avec des prairies et des toutous qui y gambadent, un film avec des femmes qui s'occupent de séduire les hommes.” — King Kong Theory

Reduplication of a sound-symbolic syllable to-, denoting a small and probably cute object. Appeared in the 17th century with the sense of "favorite", then evolved into "a docile person". For a similar formation in an unrelated language, compare Chinese 嘟嘟 (dūdū, “chubby, plump”).