echt

See also: -echt

English

WOTD – 2 December 2011

Etymology

Borrowed from German echt (“real”). The German term originates from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German echt (“lawful, genuine”), contraction of ehacht, variant form of ehaft (“lawful, pertaining to the law”) from ê(e) (“law, marriage”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛkt/

Adjective

echt (comparative more echt, superlative most echt)

1. proper, real, genuine, true to type
   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, Penguin, p.8

     I had heard [the phrase] in Lamb House, Rye, but it was less echt Henry James than Henry James mocking echt Meredith.

Translations

genuine

• Dutch: echt (nl)
• Finnish: aito (fi); ehta (fi) (dialectal)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: echt (de)

Anagrams

• Chet, Tech., chet, etch, hect-, tech

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch echt, from Old Dutch *ēhaft, from Proto-Germanic *aiwahaftaz.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛxt
• IPA^(key): /ɛxt/

• audio:

  (file)

Adjective

echt (comparative echter, superlative echtst)

1. authentic, true, genuine, real

   Synonym: waar

   Antonyms: onecht, nep, vals

Inflection

Declension of echt
uninflected	echt
inflected	echte
comparative	echter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		echt	echter	het echtst het echtste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	echte	echtere	echtste
	n. sing.	echt	echter	echtste
	plural	echte	echtere	echtste
definite		echte	echtere	echtste
partitive		echts	echters	—

Derived terms

• onecht
• in het echt

Adverb

echt

1. really, truly

Noun

echt m (uncountable)

1. marriage, matrimony

   In de echt verbinden

   to bind in matrimony

Derived terms

• echtscheiding

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German

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle High German echt, borrowed from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German echt (“lawful, genuine”). The original form is Middle Low German ēhaft (“lawful”), from ē (“law”) (related to modern Ehe); then ēhacht by the Low German development -ft- → -cht- (compare Nichte); and eventually contracted into echt. Cognate to Old High German ēhaft (“honourable”) and Dutch echt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛçt/

• audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛçt

Adjective

echt (comparative echter, superlative am echtesten)

1. authentic, genuine, true
   • 1994, “Es möchte echt sein”, in In Echt, performed by Die Sterne:

     Hallo Lexikon, erklär mir wie das funktioniert / Es möchte echt sein / Echt

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   Die Jacke ist aus echtem Leder.

   The jacket is made of genuine leather.

2. (chiefly colloquial) real; factual

   Synonyms: wirklich, tatsächlich

   Der Film ist nah an der echten Geschichte.

   The film is close to the real story.

3. (mathematics) proper

   echte Teilmenge ― proper subset

Synonyms

• (real): wirklich

Derived terms

• echtgolden
• Echtheit
• echt jetzt
• echtsilbern
• in echt
• waschecht

Descendants

• → English: echt

Adverb

echt

1. (chiefly colloquial) really; indeed

Synonyms

• wirklich

Further reading

• “echt” in Duden online