# pech
## English
### Alternative forms

* paich, pegh

### Etymology

Borrowed from Scots pech, apparently of imitative origin.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /pɛk/
* (Scotland) IPA: /pɛx/
* Rhymes: -ɛx, -ɛk

### Verb

pech (third-person singular simple present pechs, present participle peching, simple past and past participle peched)
* (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 (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 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, published 1994, page 225:She peched and had to rest often.
** 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 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

* EHCP, ceph, hep C

## Breton
### Noun

pech m (plural pechoù)
* trap, booby trap

## Chuj
### Noun

pech
* duck

## Czech
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Pech.

### Noun

pech m inan
* (colloquial) bad luck
    Synonym: smůla

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “pech”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
* “pech”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

## Dutch
### Etymology

From German Pech (“bad luck; pitch, tar”), from Old High German peh, from Latin pīx. Doublet of inherited 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 luck, 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: /pɛx/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: pech
* Rhymes: -ɛx

### Noun

pech m (uncountable)
* bad luck; misfortune
* breakdown, e.g. of a car

#### Derived terms

* autopech
* pechgeneratie
* pechvogel

#### Descendants

* Negerhollands: pech

## Hungarian
### Etymology

From German Pech.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈpɛxː]
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: pech
* Rhymes: -ɛxː

### Noun

pech (plural pechek)
* bad luck, misfortune
    Synonym: balszerencse
    Antonyms: szerencse, mázli

#### Derived terms

* peches

### References

* ↑ Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN

### Further reading

* pech in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Pech. Doublet of pach.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpɛx/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛx
* Syllabification: pech
* Homophone: Pech

### Noun

pech m animal
* (usually in the singular) bad luck, misfortune
    Synonyms: niefart, nieszczęście
    Antonyms: fart, szczęście
** 2002 December 13, Magdalena Grochowalska, “Szczęśliwa trzynastka?”, in Express Ilustrowany (journalism), Łódź: Oddział Prasa Łódzka, →ISSN:Jeśli w „normalny” dzień przewrócimy się i nic sobie nie zrobimy, to powiemy, że mieliśmy ogromne szczęście. Jeśli przydarzy nam się to trzynastego, w piątek, powiemy, że spotkał nas pech.If on a “normal” day we fall down and we don't hurt ourselves, then we say we were incredibly lucky. If this happens on Friday the 13th, then we say we were unlucky.

#### Derived terms

* pechowy
* pechowiec
* zapeszać impf
* zapeszyć pf

#### Related terms

* pechowo
* pechowość

### Further reading

* pech in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* pech in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Scots
### Etymology

Imitative.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pɛç/

### Verb

pech (third-person singular simple present pechs, present participle pechin, simple past pecht, past participle pecht)
* to pant, gasp for breath