Pech

See also: pech and pęch

English

Proper noun

Pech

  1. An indigenous Amerindian language spoken in Honduras.

Synonyms

See also

  • Wiktionary’s coverage of Pech terms

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈpɛx]

Proper noun

Pech m anim (female equivalent Pechová)

  1. a male surname

Declension

Further reading

  • Pech”, in Příjmení.cz (in Czech)

German

Etymology

From Middle High German pech, bech, from Old High German peh, beh, from Proto-West Germanic *pik (pitch, tar, wood resin).

The form is unusual as it shows unshifted p-, but shifted -ch, even though the shift of initial p- to pf- occurred later than that of postvocalic -k to -ch. Theodor Frings therefore considered that the word was at first restricted to West Central German along the Rhine (which lacks the pf-shift) and only spread to Upper German slightly later when the shift was no longer active. (Middle High German pfich occurs only once in a Central German text from the 14th century and is thus probably a hypercorrection.)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɛç/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛç

Noun

Pech n (strong, genitive Pechs or Peches, plural Peche)

  1. (usually uncountable) pitch (sticky substance)
  2. (uncountable) bad luck, misfortune
    Synonym: Unglück
    Antonym: Glück
    Pech habento be unlucky
    • 1983, “Ich bin müde”, Rio Reiser (lyrics), Wolgang Michels (music):
      Du denkst nach vorne, ich denk zurück. / Ich zieh das Pech an, du hast nur Glück.
      You think forward, I think back. / I attract bad luck, you have only luck.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Dutch: pech
  • Hungarian: pech
  • Polish: pech
  • Serbo-Croatian: pȅh
  • Slovak: pech
  • Czech: pech

Further reading

  • Pech” in Duden online
  • Pech” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German peh, from Latin pix. Cognate with German Pech, Dutch pek, English pitch.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pæɕ/

Noun

Pech m (uncountable)

  1. glue
  2. sticky tape
  3. bad luck, misfortune

Derived terms

Slovak

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [pex]

Proper noun

Pech m pers (female equivalent Pechová)

  1. a male surname

Declension

Declension of Pech
(pattern chlap)
singularplural 1plural 2
nominativePechPechoviaPechovci
genitivePechaPechovPechovcov
dativePechoviPechomPechovcom
accusativePechaPechovPechovcov
locativePechoviPechochPechovcoch
instrumentalPechomPechmiPechovcami

Further reading

  • Pech”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025