gecker

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Coined by 1962, likely derived from Low German geck (“to mock, cackle”) from related terms such as German gackern (“to cackle”) and German 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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