Czech

See also: czech

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation): Cz.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Polish Czech, from Old Polish Czech, from Old Czech Čech, ultimately a variation and contraction of Proto-Slavic *čelověkъ (“human”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: chĕk, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɛk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: check, cheque
• Rhymes: -ɛk

Adjective

Czech (not comparable)

1. Of, from, or pertaining to the Czech Republic (Czechia), the Czech people, culture, or language.
   • 2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     A big beast of the men's field was put through the mangle then dumped out of Wimbledon as Rafael Nadal fell at around 10.06pm to Lukas Rosol, a Czech debutant who will never forget this Thursday evening in south-west London.

Synonyms

• Czechian
• Czechic
• Czechish

Derived terms

• Czech Silesia
• Czech Socialist Republic
• Czechness
• Czechoslovak

Descendants

• → Burmese: ချက် (hkyak)

Translations

of, from, or pertaining to the country, people, culture or language

• Afrikaans: Tsjeggies (af)
• Albanian: çek (sq)
• Arabic: تْشِيكِيّ (tšīkiyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: تشيكي (tšīkī)

  Hijazi Arabic: تشيكي (tšīkī)

• Armenian: չեխական (hy) (čʻexakan), չեխ (hy) (čʻex)
• Azerbaijani: çex
• Basque: txekiar
• Belarusian: чэ́шскі (čéšski), чэ́скі (čéski) (Taraškievica)
• Bengali: চেক (bn) (cek)
• Bulgarian: че́шки (čéški)
• Burmese: ချက် (my) (hkyak)
• Carpathian Rusyn: че́ськый (čésʹkŷj)
• Catalan: txec (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 捷克 (zh) (jiékè)

• Cornish: chek
• Czech: český (cs)
• Danish: tjekkisk (da)
• Dutch: Tsjechisch (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉeĥa (eo)
• Estonian: tšehhi
• Faroese: kekskur
• Finnish: tšekkiläinen (fi), tšekki (fi)
• French: tchèque (fr)
• Gagauz: çeh
• Galician: checo (gl)
• Georgian: ჩეხური (čexuri)
• German: tschechisch (de), böhmisch (de)
• Greek: τσέχικος (el) (tséchikos)
• Hebrew: צ׳כי (chekhi)
• Hindi: चेक (hi) (cek)
• Hungarian: cseh (hu)
• Icelandic: tékkneskur (is)
• Irish: Seiceach
• Italian: ceco (it)
• Japanese: チェコ (ja) (cheko)
• Kalenjin: Chek
• Kamba: Chek
• Kashubian: czesczi
• Kazakh: чех (çex)
• Khmer: ឆែក (km) (chaek)
• Korean: 체코 (ko) (cheko)
• Kyrgyz: чех (ky) (ceh)
• Lao: ເຊັກໂກ (sek kō)
• Latin: bohemicus
• Latvian: čehu, čehisks
• Lithuanian: čekų (lt), čekiškas (lt)
• Luhya: Chek
• Macedonian: чешки (češki)
• Malay: Czech
• Maltese: Ċek
• Manx: Sheckagh
• Marathi: चेक (cek)
• Meru: Chek
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: чех (čex)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tsjekkisk (no)

  Nynorsk: tsjekkisk (nn)

• Old East Slavic: чешьскъ (češĭskŭ)
• Pashto: چکي (čekí)
• Persian: چک (fa) (ček), چکی (fa) (čeki)
• Polish: czeski (pl) m
• Portuguese: tcheco (pt), checo (pt)
• Romanian: ceh (ro)
• Russian: че́шский (ru) (čéšskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: Seiceach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: че̏шкӣ

  Latin: čȅškī (sh)

• Sinhalese: චෙක් (cek)
• Slovak: český (sk)
• Slovene: čéški (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: česki

  Upper Sorbian: čěski (hsb)

• Spanish: checo (es)
• Swahili: Kicheki
• Swedish: tjeckisk (sv)
• Tagalog: Tseko (tl)
• Tajik: чехӣ (tg) (čexi)
• Tatar: чех (çex)
• Thai: เช็ก (th) (chék)
• Turkish: Çek (tr)
• Turkmen: çeh
• Ukrainian: че́ський (uk) (čésʹkyj)
• Urdu: چیک (cek)
• Uyghur: چېخ (chëx)
• Uzbek: chex (uz)
• Vietnamese: Séc, Tiệp
• Welsh: Tsiecaidd
• Yiddish: טשעכיש (yi) (tshekhish)

Noun

Czech (countable and uncountable, plural Czechs)

1. (countable) A person from the Czech Republic (Czechia) or of Czech descent.
   • 1964, John F. Kennedy, “Immigration Policy”, in A Nation of Immigrants‎^[2], Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 61:

     By 1963, almost 130,000 Czechs had migrated to this country. They tended to gravitate to the farming communities.

Translations

person

• Afrikaans: Tsjeg
• Albanian: çek (sq) m
• Arabic: تْشِيكِيّ m (tšīkiyy), تْشِيكِيَّة (ar) f (tšīkiyya)
• Armenian: չեխ (hy) (čʻex)
• Azerbaijani: çex
• Basque: txekiar
• Belarusian: чэх m (čex), чэ́шка f (čéška)
• Bulgarian: чех (bg) m (čeh), чехки́ня f (čehkínja)
• Carpathian Rusyn: Чех m (Čex), Че́шка f (Čéška)
• Catalan: txec (ca) m, txeca (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 捷克人 (zh) (jiékèrén)

• Cornish: Chek m, Chekes f
• Czech: Čech (cs) m, Češka (cs) f
• Danish: tjekke (da) c, tjekker c
• Dutch: Tsjech (nl) m, Tsjechische (nl) f
• Esperanto: ĉeĥo, ĉeĥino (female)
• Estonian: tšehh
• Faroese: kekki m
• Finnish: tšekki (fi)
• French: Tchèque (fr) m or f
• Galician: checo (gl) m, checa f
• Georgian: ჩეხი (čexi)
• German: Tscheche (de) m, Tschechin (de) f
• Greek: Τσέχος (el) m (Tséchos), Τσέχα (el) f (Tsécha)
• Hebrew: צ׳כי m (chekhi), צֶ׳כִית f (chekhit)
• Hungarian: cseh (hu)
• Icelandic: Tékki m
• Irish: Seiceach
• Italian: ceco (it) m, ceca (it) f
• Japanese: チェコ人 (ja) (ちぇこじん, chekojin)
• Kazakh: чех (çex)
• Khmer: ឆែក (km) (chaek)
• Korean: 체코인 (ko) (chekoin), 체코 사람 (cheko saram)
• Kyrgyz: чех (ky) (ceh)
• Latin: Bohemus m
• Latvian: čehs m, čehiete f
• Lithuanian: čekas (lt) m, čekė (lt) f
• Macedonian: Чех m (Čeh), Чехинка f (Čehinka)
• Malay: orang Czech
• Maltese: Ċek m, Ċeka f
• Manx: Sheckagh m
• Marathi: चेक (cek)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: чех хүн (čex xün)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tsjekker (no) m

  Nynorsk: tsjekkar (nn) m

• Persian: چک (fa) (ček)
• Polish: Czech (pl) m pers, Czeszka (pl) f
• Portuguese: tcheco (pt) m, tcheca (pt) f, checo (pt) m, checa (pt) f
• Romanian: ceh (ro) m, cehă (ro) f, cehoaică (ro) f
• Russian: чех (ru) m (čex), че́шка (ru) f (čéška)
• Scottish Gaelic: Seiceach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Че̏х m, Че̏хиња f

  Latin: Čȅh (sh) m, Čȅhinja f

• Slovak: Čech (sk) m, Češka (sk) f
• Slovene: Čéh (sl) m, Čéhinja f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: Čech m, Čechowka f

  Upper Sorbian: Čech m, Čechowka f

• Spanish: checo (es) m, checa (es) f
• Swahili: Mcheki (sw)
• Swedish: tjeck (sv) c, tjeckiska (sv) c (female)
• Thai: ชาวเช็ก
• Turkish: Çek (tr)
• Turkmen: çeh
• Ukrainian: чех (uk) m (čex), че́шка f (čéška)
• Uyghur: چېخ (chëx)
• Uzbek: chex (uz)
• Vietnamese: người Séc, người Tiệp
• Welsh: Tsieciad m or f
• Yiddish: טשעך m (tshekh)

Proper noun

Czech

2. (uncountable) A Slavic language primarily spoken in the Czech Republic.
   • 2001 December 2, Giles Milton, “'The Riddle and the Knight'”, in The New York Times‎^[3], archived from the original on 19 April 2022:

     By the time this mysterious knight died in the 1360s, his book was available in every European language, including Dutch, Gaelic, Czech, Catalan, and Walloon.

3. (nonstandard) The Czech Republic (Czechia).
   • 2008, George Stowers, Straight Up, No Sippin': Memoirs of Life and Work Onboard Mega Cruise Ships, →ISBN, page 325:

     She's from Czech, Croatia, or somewhere over there. The ill thing is that we always come together when we're drunk, but half way through our drunken talks, she always gets mad at something and leaves.

   • 2009, Jennifer Lees-Marshment, Political Marketing: Principles and Applications, Routledge, →ISBN, page 237:

     A whole array of companies and consultants are found travelling to Croatia or Czech or China, to extol the latest virtues of electioneering, perhaps via the UK Westminster Foundation for Democracy, […]

Related terms

(language):

• Early Modern Czech
• Middle Czech
• Old Czech
• Proto-Czech

Translations

language

• Afrikaans: Tsjeggies (af)
• Albanian: gjuha çeke f
• Amharic: ቼክኛ (čekña)
• Arabic: تْشِيكِيَّة (ar) f (tšīkiyya)
• Aragonese: Idioma checo
• Armenian: չեխերեն (hy) (čʻexeren)
• Asturian: checu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: чех, çex
• Basque: txekiera (eu)
• Belarusian: чэ́шская мо́ва f (čéšskaja móva), чэ́шская f (čéšskaja), чэ́ская f (čéskaja)
• Breton: Tchekeg
• Bulgarian: че́шки (čéški)
• Catalan: txec (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᏤᎬ (tsegv), ᏤᎩ (tsegi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 捷克語 / 捷克语 (zh) (jiékèyǔ)

• Cornish: Chekek m, Tsieceg f
• Czech: čeština (cs) f, český jazyk (cs) m
• Danish: tjekkisk (da)
• Dhivehi: ޗެކް (cek̊)
• Dutch: Tsjechisch (nl) n
• Esperanto: ĉeĥa (eo)
• Estonian: tšehhi
• Faroese: kekkiskt (fo) n, kekskt n
• Finnish: tšekki (fi)
• French: tchèque (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: Tsjechysk (fy)

• Galician: checo (gl) m
• Georgian: ჩეხური (čexuri), ჩეხური ენა (čexuri ena)
• German: Tschechisch (de) n, Böhmisch n (dated)

  Central Franconian: Scheschisch

• Greek: τσεχικά (el) n pl (tsechiká)
• Greenlandic: tjekkiamiusut
• Gujarati: ચેક (gu) (cek)
• Hebrew: צ׳כית \ צֶ׳כִית (he) f (chekhít)
• Hindi: चेक (hi) (cek)
• Hungarian: cseh (hu)
• Icelandic: tékkneska (is) f
• Indonesian: Ceko
• Irish: Seicis f
• Italian: ceco (it) m
• Japanese: チェコ語 (ja) (チェコご, chekogo)
• Khmer: ឆែក (km) (chaek)
• Korean: 체크어 (chekeueo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Çekî

• Lao: ພາສາເຊັກໂກ (phā sāsek kō)
• Latin: lingua bōhēmica f
• Latvian: čehu, čehu valoda f
• Limburgish: Tsjèchisj n
• Lithuanian: Čekų, Čekiškai
• Macedonian: чешки m (češki)
• Malay: bahasa Czech
• Maltese: Iċ-Ċek
• Manx: Sheckish f
• Marathi: चेक f (cek)
• Moksha: цеконь (cekoń)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: чех (čex), чех хэл (čex xel)

• Navajo: Chek bizaad
• Ndonga: Oshitsehi class 7
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tsjekkisk (no) m

  Nynorsk: tsjekkisk (nn) m

• Occitan: chèc (oc) m
• Persian: چکی (fa) (čeki)
• Polish: (język) czeski (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: checo (pt) m (Portugal), tcheco (pt) m (Brazil)
• Romanian: cehă (ro)
• Russian: че́шский (ru) m (čéšskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: Seacais f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: че̏шкӣ m

  Latin: čȅškī (sh) m

• Slovak: čeština (sk) f
• Slovene: čéščina (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: češćina f

  Upper Sorbian: čěšćina (hsb) f

• Spanish: checo (es) m
• Swahili: Kicheki
• Swedish: tjeckiska (sv)
• Tamil: செக் (cek)
• Tatar: чех (çex)
• Thai: ภาษาเช็ก
• Tigrinya: ቼክኛ (čekña)
• Turkish: Çekçe (tr)
• Ukrainian: че́ська (uk) f (čésʹka)
• Urdu: چیک (cek)
• Uzbek: chex (uz)
• Vietnamese: tiếng Séc (vi), tiếng Tiệp
• Walloon: Tcheke
• Welsh: Tsieceg (cy)
• Yiddish: טשעכיש (yi) n (tshekhish)
• Zulu: Isiczechoslovakia

See also

• Bohemian
• Wiktionary’s coverage of Czech terms
• Appendix:Czech Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Czech

Further reading

• ISO 639-1 code cs, ISO 639-3 code ces (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Czech, ces ⁠
• Czech language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Old Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Czech Čech. First attested in 1440.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /t͡ʃʲɛx/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /t͡ʃʲɛx/

Proper noun

Czech m animacy unattested

1. (attested in Greater Poland) Czech (person from Czechia)
   • c. 1500, Wokabularz lubiński, Lubiń: inkunabuł Archiwum Archidiecezjalnego w Gnieźnie, sygn. Inc. 78d., page 19v:

     Bohemus est aliquis de Bohemia Czech

     [Bohemus est aliquis de Bohemia Czech]

2. a male surname

Descendants

• Polish: Czech
  • → English: Czech
    • → Burmese: ချက် (hkyak)
• Silesian: Czech

References

• Witold Taszycki, editor (1965-1967), “Czech”, in Słownik staropolskich nazw osobowych (in Polish), volume 1, Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, page 412
• Ewa Deptuchowa, Mariusz Frodyma, Katarzyna Jasińska, Magdalena Klapper, Dorota Kołodziej, Mariusz Leńczuk, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, editors (2023), “Czech”, in Rozariusze z polskimi glosami. Internetowa baza danych [Dictionaries of Polish glosses, an Internet database] (in Polish), Kraków: Pracownia Języka Staropolskiego Instytut Języka Polskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʂɛx/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛx
• Syllabification: Czech

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Polish Czech.

Noun

Czech m pers (female equivalent Czeszka)

1. Czech; Bohemian

Declension

Declension of Czech

	singular	plural
nominative	Czech	Czesi/Czechy (deprecative)
genitive	Czecha	Czechów
dative	Czechowi	Czechom
accusative	Czecha	Czechów
instrumental	Czechem	Czechami
locative	Czechu	Czechach
vocative	Czechu	Czesi

Proper noun

Czech m pers

1. a male surname

Declension

Declension of Czech

	singular	plural
nominative	Czech	Czechowie
genitive	Czecha	Czechów
dative	Czechowi	Czechom
accusative	Czecha	Czechów
instrumental	Czechem	Czechami
locative	Czechu	Czechach
vocative	Czechu	Czechowie

Proper noun

Czech f (indeclinable)

1. a female surname

Descendants

• → English: Czech
  • → Burmese: ချက် (hkyak)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Proper noun

Czech pl

1. genitive of Czechy

Further reading

• Czech in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• Czech in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• “Czech”, in Internetowy słownik nazwisk w Polsce [Internet dictionary of surnames in Poland], 2025–2030