German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German sīhte (low, shallow); cognate with sinken.[1]

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /zaɪ̯çt/ (prescriptive standard)
  • IPA(key): /saɛ̯çt/ (Austria)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪ̯çt

Adjective

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seicht (strong nominative masculine singular seichter, comparative seichter, superlative am seichtesten)

  1. shallow (of water only)
    Synonyms: untief, flach
  2. (figuratively) simple, light, having little depth (e.g. of a book)
    Synonym: flach

Usage notes

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  • Like in English, Seicht is more likely to be used when the shallowness of a given book or film is intended (as e.g. in a romantic comedy), while flach tends to mean that something fails to reach the depth to which it aspires or which would be expected of it.

Declension

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References

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  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge (1883) “seicht”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Further reading

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  • seicht” in Duden online
  • seicht” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache