pech

Alternative forms

• paich
• pegh

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots pech, apparently of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /pɛx/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɛk/

Verb

pech (third-person singular simple present pechs, present participle peching, simple past and past participle peched)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) To pant, to struggle for breath.
   • 1913, John Buchan, Andrew Jameson, Lord Ardwall, page 136:

     An' as they breisted the lang lang hill / The puir horse graned and peched.

   • 1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 321:

     Then Chris saw Bruce, the porter, come in, with the mark on his jaw where his godfather hit him, then Leslie, the smith, paiching and sweating, he dropped his stick with an awful clatter.

   • 1954, Robin Jenkins, The Thistle and the Grail, 1994, page 225:

     She peched and had to rest often.

   • 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, p. 207:

     When Graham reached him, however, he felt so exhausted he could not immediately explain; he had to sit on the ground, peching like a seal.

   • 1994, James Kelman, How Late it Was, How Late:

     If he could just stop breathing and listen but he was peching too much from the climb.

Anagrams

• hep C

Etymology

From German Pech

Noun

pech m

1. (colloquial) bad luck

Further reading

• pech in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• pech in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Etymology

From German Pech (“bad luck; pitch, tar”), from Old High German peh, from Latin pīx. Doublet of inherited Dutch pek (“pitch”). Also cognate with English pitch.

The sense “breakdown” is a Dutch innovation. It is probably modelled on the word ongeluk, which means both “bad look, misfortune” and “accident”. Since pech typically denotes a lesser kind of bad luck, it came to be used for a lesser kind of traffic accident too. German uses Panne instead; compare Dutch panne.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛx/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛx

Noun

pech m (uncountable)

1. bad luck; bad karma
2. breakdown, e.g. of a car

Etymology

From German Pech. ^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɛxː]
• Hyphenation: pech

Noun

pech (plural pechek)

1. bad luck, misfortune

References

Etymology

From German Pech.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛx/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

pech m anim

1. misfortune (“bad luck”)

Further reading

• pech in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Etymology

Imitative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛç/

Verb

pech (third-person singular present pechs, present participle pechin, past pecht, past participle pecht)

1. to pant, gasp for breath