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Definition 2024


echt

echt

See also: -echt

English

Adjective

echt (comparative more echt, superlative most echt)

  1. proper, real, genuine, true to type
    • 2009, January 18, “Ross Douthat”, in When Buckley Met Reagan:
      An echt Burkean with a snob’s disdain for the contemporary Republican Party, Hart hinted at a road not taken [] .
    • Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, Penguin, 1980, 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

Anagrams


Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɛxt
  • IPA(key): /ɛxt/

Etymology

From Middle Dutch echt, from Old Dutch *ēhaft. Cognate to German echt.[1]

Adjective

echt (comparative echter, superlative echtst)

  1. authentic, genuine, real

Inflection

Inflection 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

Adverb

echt

  1. really

Noun

echt n (uncountable)

  1. reality, real life
    We konden hem in het echt ontmoeten.
    We could meet him in reality.

Synonyms

Noun

echt m (uncountable)

  1. marriage
    In de echt verbinden
    to bind in matrimony

References

  1. J. de Vries & F. de Tollenaere, "Etymologisch Woordenboek", Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, Utrecht, 1986 (14de druk)

German

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛçt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛçt

Adjective

echt (comparative echter, superlative am echtesten)

  1. authentic, genuine, true
    Die Jacke ist aus echtem Leder.
    The jacket is made of genuine leather.
  2. (chiefly colloquial) real; factual
    Der Film ist nah an der echten Geschichte.
    The film is close to the real story.
  3. (mathematics) proper
    echte Teilmenge
    proper subset

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Adverb

echt

  1. (chiefly colloquial) really; indeed

Synonyms