[1] The name of the river probably originated in the Chukchi "Ḳtig" (Ӄитиг), meaning "frost" or "cold wind".

In Koryak it is known as "Vuyvov'eyem" (Вуйвов’эем), meaning "fortress river".

Then it bends first southeastwards, and then southwestwards in its last stretch, within a floodplain where it divides into multiple sleeves and where there are many small thermokarst lakes.

Finally it flows by Gizhiga village into the Gizhigin Bay, at the northern end of Shelikhov Gulf, Sea of Okhotsk.

[1] The main fish species in the Gizhiga river include grayling, pike and Eurasian minnow.