Neuter
Pech
Meaning
- (neuter,strong,uncountable,usually) pitch (sticky substance)
- (neuter,strong,uncountable) bad luck, misfortune
Concepts
natural resin
unlucky person
casus
Synonyms
Unglücksfall
Tracht Prügel
glücklicher Zufall
schweres Schicksal
Unglücklich
Wendung des Schicksals
unglücklicher Mensch
Akzidens
einsalzen
Frequency
Dialects
Appenzell Ausserrhoden
pech
Basel-Landschaft
bäch
Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch
Pronounced as (IPA)
/pɛç/
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German along the Rhine (which lacks the pf-shift) and only spread to Upper German slightly later when the shift was no longer active.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.)
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Notes