echoer

Echoer is a noun used to describe a person or thing that produces an echo or repeats what has been heard. In acoustics, an echoer is any surface or object that reflects sound back toward the listener, creating an audible echo after a delay determined by the distance the sound travels. In everyday language, the term can refer to someone who repeats others’ statements verbatim or in a paraphrased form, sometimes to emphasize a point or to mirror another’s words.

In technology and computing, echoer is an informal, nonstandard term that may describe a device or program whose function is to echo or reproduce input as output. For example, in Unix-like systems the command echo prints its input to the standard output, and a wrapper or utility that mirrors input could be described informally as an echoer, though this is not an established technical designation.

Etymology and usage: echoer is formed from the word echo plus the agent suffix -er, following common patterns in English. The term is relatively uncommon in formal writing and is largely practical or descriptive in nature.

See also: echo, echolocation, echo chamber, parrot (figurative repeating), repetition.