amechtig

Meaning

Adj

1. (archaic) powerless
2. short of breath, panting, short-winded
3. (figuratively) forced, frantic

Adv

in a forced, frantic way

Concepts

breathless

gasping

panting

short-winded

wheezy

short of breath

superspectacular

Synonyms

adembenemend

ademloos

buiten adem

kortademig

wondermooi

Translations

keuchend

ahurissant

effarant

époustouflant

essoufflé

essouflé

mozzafiato

sfiatato

travolgente

ansimante

de tirar o fôlego

dispnéico

sem fôlego

grandioso

Pronounced as (IPA)

/aːˈmɛx.təx/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Dutch: amechtich

In summary

From Middle Dutch amechtich, amachtich, perhaps from *amacht (“powerlessness”) + -ich; compare Old High German āmahtīg (German ohnmächtig, with altered prefix). The presence of umlauted -e- in this word is due to Low German influence; in Dutch the -cht would otherwise have prevented umlaut (as in machtig).
The sense "short of breath" arose due to conflation of the privative West-Germanic prefix a- (seemingly unrelated to the Indo-European alpha privative) with the contracted form aâm of the word adem (“breath”).