‖geitjie, noun

/ˈxeɪki//ˈxeɪci/
Forms:
cuytge, gaetyeShow more Also cuytge, gaetye, geikje, geitje, geittjie, heiki, jieke, t’geitje.
Origin:
South African Dutch, Dutch, MalayShow more South African Dutch, of unknown origin: perhaps from San !haĩ: /ǀhaɪ̃ː/ gecko + Dutch diminutive suffix -je, -tje (see -ie); or onomatopoeic, from unrecorded San or Malay word imitating the clicking sound made by a gecko.
Any of several species of gecko of the Gekkonidae.
Note:
None of the southern African species of gecko is poisonous, although some were formerly thought to be so.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. II. 333Aloven Smidt..had caught a dreadfully venomous lizard, called t’geitje.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. II. 334It is a fortunate circumstance, that the geitje is slow in its motions, and not of a very irritable disposition.
1815 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1930) II.Poisonous lizards abound in old walls and forsaken houses. They are known by the name of geitjes.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. II. 268A small lizard, with blunt toes,..said to be so poisonous that its bite occasions death within an hour..inhabits Namaqua land, where it is called Geitjie.
1870 E. Prov. Herald 15 Mar.The dreaded ‘jieke’ (properly gecko) is a most harmless, useful lizard.
1877 J. Noble S. Afr. 80 (Pettman)Scant mercy is extended to the harmless gaetye, because of their imaginary venomous character.
1886 G.A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert 301The chirping heiki crawled forth in search of a dainty supper of sleeping flies and beetles.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 139Only the geitjes, as the little rock lizards are called at the Cape, ran actively from one hot stone to another.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 185Geitje, (Hot. geip, a lizard; the word has an initial click.)...A small lizard erroneously credited by the natives with being exceedingly poisonous...The present form of the name appears to be a corruption of the Hottentot name due to a striving after meaning.
c1939 S.H. Skaife S. Afr. Nature Notes 132The popular name, gecko or geittjie, is said to come from a Malay name given to these little lizards in imitation of the clicking cry some of them utter.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 80A small, toothless and inoffensive lizard known as the geitjie is also regarded as a killer.
1965 S. Dederick Tickey 13The locusts and the geitjies, the scorpions and the toktokkies, and the singing cicadas hold their banquets on the top of that mountain.
1970 C. Kinsley Informant, Koegasbrug, Northern CapeGeitjie. Gecko.
Any of several species of gecko of the Gekkonidae.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

17861970

Browse Related Words

By Category

Reptiles and Amphibians

By Origin

Dutch
Malay
geilsiekte, nounn.gek, adjectiveadj.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English