a word acted out in an episode of the game of charades
A genre of riddles where the clues to the answer are descriptions or puns on its syllables, with a final clue to the whole.
To act out a charade (of); to gesture; to pretend.
The word comes from the French charade, meaning "prattle" or "idle conversation," which likely originated in Occitan. Originally referring to a round of the game, it was first a shortened form of "acting charade" before becoming understood as a back-formation from the plural charades.