noun
Meaning 1
Any lizard in the infraorder Gekkota.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
gecko
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɡɛk.əʊ/
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General-American: /ˈɡɛk.oʊ/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛkəʊ
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CMU ARPABET: G EH1 K OW0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Any lizard of the family Gekkonidae of small, carnivorous, mostly nocturnal animals with large eyes and adhesive toes enabling them to climb on vertical and upside-down surfaces.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: geckotid, geckotian, gekkonid
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lizard
noun
Meaning 3
Eggcorn of get-go.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To move in the manner of a gecko; to attach to a vertical or upside-down surface.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
any of various small chiefly tropical and usually nocturnal insectivorous terrestrial lizards typically with immovable eyelids; completely harmless
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lizard
Narrower terms: flying gecko, fringed gecko, Ptychozoon homalocephalum, banded gecko
History
Etymology
The modern form was probably borrowed into English and other European languages from Dutch gekko (1718). Contemporary English forms were chacco (1711) and jackoa (1724). The further origin is not quite clear. Some sources mention a supposed Malay gekok, gekoq, or gekop, which would be imitative of the gecko’s chirping sound. Another theory derives it from Acehnese gèh-gòh (“busy”).
Across languages
Translations
94 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: koggelmannetjie — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Arabic: وَزَغَة (wazaḡa) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Arabic: وزغة (wazaḡa) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Arabic: بو بريص (bu briṣ) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Old Armenian: քարաթոթոշ (kʻaratʻotʻoš) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Assamese: কেঁকো (kẽkü) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Assamese: কেঁকোসাপ (kẽküxap) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Basque: geko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Basque: dragoitxo — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Bengali: তক্ষক (tokkhok) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Bulgarian: гекон (gekon) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Burmese: တောက်တဲ့ (tauktai.) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Catalan: dragó — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Chinese Cantonese: 簷蛇 /檐蛇 — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Chinese Cantonese: 四腳蛇 /四脚蛇 (sei3 goek3 se4) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Hakka Chinese: 簷蛇 /檐蛇 (yàm-sà) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Chinese: 蟮蟲 /蟮虫 (siān-thâng) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Chinese Mandarin: 壁虎 (bìhǔ) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Chinese Mandarin: 蝘蜓 (yǎntíng) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Chinese Mandarin: 守宮 /守宫 (shǒugōng) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Coptic: ⲧⲉⲗⲙⲟⲛⲓⲁ (telmonia) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Danish: gekko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Dutch: gekko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Esperanto: geko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Finnish: gekko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- French: gecko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Galician: ladra — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Georgian: გეკონი (geḳoni) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- German: Gecko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Greek: σαμιαμίδι (samiamídi) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Ancient Greek: ἀσκάλαβος (askálabos) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Hebrew: שממית (smamít) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Hungarian: gekkó — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Icelandic: gekkó — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Icelandic: skrækeðla — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Indonesian: tokek — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Indonesian: toke — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Italian: geco — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Japanese: ヤモリ (yamori) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Japanese: 守宮 (shukyū) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Japanese: 家守 (yamori) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Javanese: tekèk — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Kazakh: жармасқы (jarmasqy) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Khmer: តឹកកែ (tək kae) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Korean: 도마뱀붙이 (domabaembuchi) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Lao: ກະໂຫລ່ງ (ka lōng) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Lao: ກັບແກ້ (kap kǣ) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Lao: ກັບໂກ້ (kap kō) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Lao: ຂີ້ໂກະ (khī ko) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Lao: ຈີ່ໂກະ (chī ko) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Lao: ສະຣະພູ (sa ra phū) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Malay: tokek — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Manchu: ᠶᡝᡴᠰᡝᡵᡥᡝᠨ (yekserhen) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Māori: moko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Marathi: पाल (pāl) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Mokilese: soasok — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Moore: bãngenlɛgsre — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Norwegian Bokmål: gekko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Norwegian Nynorsk: gekko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Nupe: latswánlatswángi — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Nupe: tswánlagi — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Nupe: màlélégi — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Nyunga: bidjool — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Pela: tʃɿ̆.ʃap55 — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Polish: gekon — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Portuguese: osga — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Portuguese: lagartixa — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Russian: гекко́н (gekkón) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Savosavo: gharo — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Sicilian: scurpiuni — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Sicilian: passijaturi — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Sicilian: tignusu — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Sicilian: zazzamita — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Spanish: salamanquesa — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Spanish: geco — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Swahili: mjusi kafiri — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Swedish: geckoödla — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Swedish: gecko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Tagalog: tuko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Tamil: பாரதிக்கு (pāratikku) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Tashelhit: ⵉⵇⵍⵉ (iqli) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Tashelhit: ⵜⵉⵇⵍⵉⵜ (tiqlit) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Tày: cắc kè — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Thai: ตุ๊กแก (dtúk-gɛɛ) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Thai: จิ้งจก (jîng-jòk) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Turkish: geko — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Ukrainian: геко́н (hekón) — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Vietnamese: tắc kè — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Vietnamese: cắc kè — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Walloon: djecok — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Wolof: wunk bi — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Yoruba: aláàmù — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Yoruba: ọmọnílé — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
- Zulu: intulo — lizard of the family Gekkonidae
Real reading context