the.com/tokay
a gecko that screams its own name and bites like it means it
means A tokay is a large, boldly spotted Southeast Asian gecko named for the loud, repeated call it makes; the same word also names a sweet Hungarian wine, after which the gecko's call was thought to sound.
from The wine sense comes from Tokaj, a town in northeastern Hungary famous for its golden dessert wines. The gecko sense is onomatopoeic — borrowed via Malay 'tokek' or a similar regional word that imitates the lizard's barking 'to-kay!' cry. English likely folded the two together because the gecko's repeated call seemed to shout the wine's name, though the two meanings have entirely separate roots.
- namesake call
- its loud cry sounds like to-kay, to-kay
- jaw strength
- locks on and won't let go easily
- size
- among the largest geckos, up to 14 inches
- color
- blue-grey skin dotted with orange spots
- nocturnal hunter
- eats insects, smaller geckos, even small birds
tokay gecko — southeast asian lizard named for its loud 'to-kay' call, native to thailand and indonesia
tokay wine — hungarian sweet wine from tokaj region, produced since the 16th century