Awk!

As well as being a key point in Thud! (just translate basic into chicken...) it also has homophonic implications in Unseen Academicals!

It is interesting to note that Methodia Rascal used this word to activate a Device that he found, apparently by accident, in Koom Valley, since the key word to activate it was the homophonic aork, from the Dwarfish for "speak."

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Now there's a word with an echo...