Neuter
Pech
Meaning
- (neuter, strong, uncountable, usually) pitch (sticky substance)
- (neuter, strong, uncountable) bad luck, misfortune
Concepts
Opposite of
Glück
Synonyms
Translations
malchance
mala suerte
sfortuna
azar
pek
mala sortFrequency
Dialects
Appenzell Ausserrhoden
pech
Basel-Landschaft
bäch
Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch
Pronounced as (IPA)
/pɛç/
Etymology
In summary
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German along the Rhine (which lacks the pf-shift) and only spread to Upper German slightly later when the shift was no longer active.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.)
Notes
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