Etymology

gecker

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Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Low German geck
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The story

  1. Low German · derived fromgeck“to mock, cackle”
  2. English todaygecker

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]”). The same call types had previously been referred to as types of keckern in German publications. Possibly also onomatopoeic from “ik, ik, ik.”

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.