Czech

How to spell czech

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce czech

What does czech mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the Czech Republic, its people, or their language.
2. nounThe Slavic language of the Czech Republic, or a person from that country.

Czech in a sentence

• adjective

  The czech glassware factory exports crystal across Europe.

• noun

  He is learning czech before moving to Brno for work.

• adjective

  Her grandmother spoke fluent czech at home in Prague.

• noun

  Every czech in the delegation had travelled from Prague.

Where does czech come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word comes from Čech, the name the Czech people use for themselves, traditionally said to derive from a legendary forefather called Čech who, in folklore, led his people to settle in Bohemia. English did not take the word directly from Czech but through Polish, which spells the opening sound with the letter pair cz; that borrowed Polish spelling is exactly why English ended up writing Czech rather than something like Chekh. The form became settled in English during the nineteenth century as interest in central European nations and languages grew. Because the cz- combination is alien to ordinary English spelling, the word looks far stranger than it sounds, since it is simply pronounced the same as check. That mismatch between an exotic spelling and a completely familiar pronunciation is the heart of the spelling trap.

How the word is built

• Czech (the native self-name Čech, rendered with the Polish-style cz- spelling)

Words that sound like czech

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• check: To examine something in order to confirm that it is correct, safe, or in order.
• cheque: A printed form on which you write an amount of money for your bank to pay from your account.