gecker

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Coined by 1962, likely derived from German geck ("to mock, cackle") from related terms such as gackern ("to cackle") and keckern ("to make angry noises [of an animal]").[1][2][3] The same call types had previously been referred to as types of keckern in German publications.[4] Possibly also onomatopoeic from “ik, ik, ik.”[5]

Noun

gecker (plural geckers)

  1. The series of stuttering throaty vocalizations (usually described as: chattering, chittering, cackling, squeaking, or yakking) in the manner of some primates, jackals, mongooses, and foxes.

Verb

gecker (third-person singular simple present geckers, present participle geckering, simple past and past participle geckered)

  1. To make a series of stuttering throaty vocalizations (usually described as: chattering, chittering, cackling, squeaking, or yakking) in the manner of some primates, jackals, mongooses, and foxes.

References
  1. ROWELL, T. E., & HINDE, R. A. (1962). VOCAL COMMUNICATION BY THE RHESUS MONKEY (MACACA MULATTA). Proc. R. Soc. London, 138(2), 279–294. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1962.tb05698.x
  2. dict.cc English-German Dictionary: gackern
  3. dict.cc English-German Dictionary: keckern
  4. Tembrock, Günter. (1957). Zur Ethologie des Rotfuchses (Vulpes vulpes [L.]), unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Fortpflanzung. Der Zoologische Garten. 23. 289-532.
  5. Patel, E. R., & Owren, M. J. (2007). Acoustics and behavioral contexts of “gecker” vocalizations in young rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). J Acoust Soc Am, 121(1), 575–585. doi:10.1121/1.2390662
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