echt

adj.
Real; genuine.

adv.
Really; genuinely.

[German, from Middle High German, from Middle Low German echte, akin to Old High German ēohaft, customary.]

(ekht)

adjective
Authentic; typical.

Etymology
From German echt (genuine, typical)

Usage
"Costume and prop man Pete Rush has provided echt polyester '70s garb for Miles and weathered denim for the farmers." — Barbara Adams; Farm Life Not So Simple in Stellar 'Drawer Boy'; The Ithaca Journal (New York); Oct 28, 2004.

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New York Times columnist Frank Rich hit George Bush with a one-two punch. He compared the administration's attempts to explain its Iraq strategy with the dastardly methods of Hitler's propaganda minister (and used a German word to do so), then quickly followed up with a reference to a bumbling pseudo-gangsta character:

"The propaganda techniques may be echt Goebbels, but they increasingly come off as pure Ali G."

Link: It Takes a Potemkin Village

Posted December 12, 2005.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

[G.]  /ekt/  genuine, authentic, typical
<as performances these are echt masterpieces>

IN BRIEF: adj. - Not fake or counterfeit.

Tutor's tip: This word was used in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.

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