the.com/contraption

means A gadget or device, usually makeshift or needlessly complicated, that's more odd-looking than elegant.

from First appeared in English in the early-to-mid 1800s, and nobody can say for certain where it came from. The best guesses are that it's a playful blend of words like 'contrivance,' 'trap,' and 'invention' — the kind of word that sounds like what it describes: clunky, cobbled-together, a little absurd. It showed up in slangy, informal speech before dictionaries caught up to it, which is fitting for a word about things built without much regard for looking proper.