Pech
English
Synonyms
- Paya
See also
- Wiktionary’s coverage of Pech terms
German
Etymology
From Middle High German pech, bech, from Old High German peh, beh, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. Cognate with Dutch pek, English pitch.
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German along the Rhine (which lacks the pf-shift) and only spread to Upper German slightly later when the shift was no longer active.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)
- (usually uncountable) pitch (sticky substance)
- (uncountable) bad luck, misfortune
- 1983, Rio Reiser (lyrics), Wolgang Michels (music), “Ich bin müde”:
- 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.
- Pech haben ― to be unlucky
-
Declension
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
Luxembourgish
Etymology
From Old High German peh, from Latin pix. Cognate with German Pech, Dutch pek, English pitch.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pæɕ/