τζίτζικας [tzitzikas], an alternative form of τζιτζίκι = a cicada.
A quick entry this week. We are currently experiencing the hottest temperatures since 1987. It’s over 40oC in some places. Getting into my car the other day reminded me of summers in Saudi Arabia. As I write, forest fires are raging around a town called Varupompi (Βαρυμπόμπη), about 35km north of Athens. It is the largest of 81 forest fires reported in the past 24 hours. It was in this context that I came across the expression σκάει ο τζίτζικας, literally “the cicada bursts”. It means, “It is boiling hot.”