This word comes from English dialect words (words that are used in certain places) "geek, geck": fool, freak; from Low German "geck", from Middle Low German. A different form of the word "geck" is still used in Dutch and Afrikaans "gek": crazy. Other forms of "geck" are also used in some German dialects, and in the Alsatian word "Gickeleshut": geek's hat, used in carnivals.