Etymology

echt

E1C3H4T1

Today it means: Proper, real, genuine, true to type. Full definition →

German echt ← Middle Low German echt ← Proto-West Germanic *aiw
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*aiw
  2. Middle Low German · derived fromecht“lawful, genuine”
  3. German · borrowed fromecht“real”
  4. English todayecht

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”), from Proto-West Germanic *aiw. First use in English appears c. 1916.

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*aiw all →

eithereverlasting

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.