Objets

Objets is the French plural of objet, used to denote things that can be perceived, used, or discussed. The term encompasses a wide range of items, including physical objects such as furniture and tools, as well as abstract entities such as ideas, goals, or data. In everyday and technical language, objets can refer to both tangible and intangible items.

From Latin objectum, via Old French objet, the word has long carried a general sense of “that toward which action or thought is directed.” In modern French, this broad semantic field covers material objects, abstract objects, and the object of discourse or study.

In grammar, l’objet refers to elements that receive the action of a verb, typically the direct object (objet direct) or indirect object (objet indirect). For example, in Je donne le livre à Marie, le livre is the direct object. The term also appears in discussions of sentence structure and syntax across Romance languages.

In philosophy, the object is what is perceived, thought about, or known by a subject. The term appears in ontology, epistemology, and phenomenology as the “object of knowledge” or the correlate of perception, distinguishing it from the thinking subject.

In art and design, objets appear as art objects or everyday items. Phrases such as objet d’art (art object) and objet trouvé (found object) reflect historical and contemporary usage, including movements that treat ordinary items as artistic material or statements.

In computing, objet translates to object in object-oriented programming. An object encapsulates data and behavior, created from a class and instantiated as a distinct entity during execution.