echt

Borrowed from German echt (“real”). The German term originates from Middle Low German echt (“lawful, genuine”), contraction of ehacht, variant form of ehaft (“lawful, pertaining to the law”) from ê(e) (“law, marriage”). First use in English appears c. 1916.

• IPA^(key): /ɛkt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɛkt

echt (comparative more echt, superlative most echt)

1. Proper, real, genuine, true to type.
   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, Penguin, page 8:

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

   • 2002 March 27, Buck Turgidson, “Heebetudinous”, in alt.california‎^[1] (Usenet):

     And yes, that's what it's about. Some punk writing about sleeping with Ginsberg, despite their fifty-year age difference and homogenous sexuality. What's echt heebish? There's your answer. A hack fag poet and the power to plant him on playlists nationwide.

   • 2009 January 18, Ross Douthat, “When Buckley Met Reagan”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     An echt Burkean with a snob’s disdain for the contemporary Republican Party, Hart hinted at a road not taken […] .

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

Borrowed from German echt, from Middle High German echt, from Middle Low German echt.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛxt]
• Hyphenation: echt

echt (indeclinable)

1. (colloquial) echt, genuine, pure, unadulterated

   Synonyms: nefalšovaný, opravdový, ryzí

• “echt”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “echt”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “echt”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

• IPA^(key): /ɛxt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: echt
• Rhymes: -ɛxt
• Homophone: Echt

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

echt (comparative echter, superlative echtst)

1. authentic, true, genuine, real

   Synonyms: waar, heus

   Antonyms: onecht, nep, vals

   Dit is een echt kunstwerk, geen kopie. ― This is an authentic artwork, not a copy.

   Hij heeft een echte diamant gekocht. ― He bought a genuine diamond.

echt

1. (as an intensifier) really

   We moeten echt weer eens een keer naar dat restaurant gaan. ― We should really go to that restaurant again sometime.

   Hij is echt een idioot. ― He really is an idiot.

• Afrikaans: eg
• Petjo: echt, echies
• → Papiamentu: echt

From Middle Dutch echte. A nominalization of the adjective listed at Etymology 1 above, which in Middle Dutch could also mean "lawful" (a meaning that has not survived into modern Dutch).

echt m (uncountable)

1. (formal) the institution or bond of marriage; matrimony

   Synonyms: huwelijk, trouw

   Het koppel is recentelijk in de echt verbonden. ― The couple was recently joined in matrimony.

   Hij heeft de echt gebroken en zijn vrouw bedrogen. ― He broke the bonds of matrimony and betrayed his wife.

   Zij zijn voornemens spoedig in de echt te treden. ― They intend to be joined in matrimony soon.

• Negerhollands: echt, echte

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “echt1”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “echt2”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

• ächt (obsolete)

From Middle High German echt, borrowed from 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.

• IPA^(key): /ɛçt/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛçt

echt (strong nominative masculine singular echter, comparative echter, superlative am echtesten)

1. authentic, genuine, true

   Die Jacke ist aus echtem Leder.

   The jacket is made of genuine leather.

   • 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)

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

• → English: echt

echt

1. (chiefly colloquial) really; indeed

   Synonym: wirklich

   Das war echt gut. ― That was really good.

echt

1. expresses disbelief or shock at new information

   Synonym: wirklich

   "Ich lebe erst seit 2 Jahren in Deutschland." "Echt? Du sprichst sehr gut Deutsch." ― "I've only been living in Germany for 2 years." "Really? Your German is very good."

• “echt” in Duden online
• “echt” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Borrowed from German echt.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛxt/
• Rhymes: -ɛxt
• Syllabification: echt

echt (not comparable, indeclinable, no derived adverb)

1. authentic, genuine, true

• Stefan Ramułt (1993) [1893], “echt”, in Jerzy Trepczyk, editor, Słownik języka pomorskiego czyli kaszubskiego (in Kashubian), 3 edition
• “echt”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Inherited from Middle English eighte, aught, eahte, ahte, from Old English eahta, from Proto-West Germanic *ahtō, from Proto-Germanic *ahtōu, from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw.

• aucht

echt

1. eight

Inherited from Middle English eiȝtthe, from Old English eahtoþa, from Proto-Germanic *ahtudô.

• aicht, aucht

echt

1. eighth

echt

1. alternative form of aicht

• “aicht, v. tr.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
• “echt, num.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/echt
• “echt, num. adj.1.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
• “echt, num. adj.2.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.