Pech

See also: pech and pęch

English

Noun

Pech pl (plural only)

1. An indigenous ethnic group of north-eastern Honduras.

   Synonym: Paya

Proper noun

Pech

1. An indigenous Amerindian language spoken in Honduras.

   Synonym: Paya

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Pech terms

Anagrams

• EHCP, ceph, hep C

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɛx]

Proper noun

Pech m anim (female equivalent Pechová)

1. a male surname

Declension

Declension of Pech (velar masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	Pech	Pechové
genitive	Pecha	Pechů
dative	Pechovi	Pechům
accusative	Pecha	Pechy
vocative	Pechu	Pechové
locative	Pechovi	Peších
instrumental	Pechem	Pechy

Further reading

• “Pech”, in Příjmení.cz (in Czech)

German

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *pik-der.

Proto-Italic *piks

Latin pixbor.

Proto-West Germanic *pik

Old High German peh

Middle High German pech

German Pech

Inherited from Middle High German pech, bech, from Old High German peh, beh, from Proto-West Germanic *pik (“pitch, tar, wood resin”), from Latin pix.

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German along the Rhine (which lacks the pf-shift) and only spread to Upper German slightly later when the shift was no longer active.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 (Berlin, Germany):

  (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 haben ― to 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

Declension of Pech [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Pech	die	Peche
genitive	eines	des	Pechs, Peches	der	Peche
dative	einem	dem	Pech, Peche1	den	Pechen
accusative	ein	das	Pech	die	Peche

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• Pechblende
• Pechnelke
• Pechsträhne
• Pechvogel

Related terms

• pekig

Descendants

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

Further reading

• “Pech” in Duden online
• “Pech”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)

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

• pechen

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pex/, [ˈpex]
• Rhymes: -ex

Proper noun

Pech m pers (female equivalent Pechová)

1. a male surname

Declension

Declension of Pech
(pattern chlap)

	singular	plural 1	plural 2
nominative	Pech	Pechovia	Pechovci
genitive	Pecha	Pechov	Pechovcov
dative	Pechovi	Pechom	Pechovcom
accusative	Pecha	Pechov	Pechovcov
locative	Pechovi	Pechoch	Pechovcoch
instrumental	Pechom	Pechmi	Pechovcami

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, 2003–2026