Acht

First attested as achte in 1307. Derived from Middle Dutch achte (“preserve, lordly possession, legal district”). Compare Achterveld, Achtmaal and Echt.

• IPA^(key): /ɑxt/
• Hyphenation: Acht
• Rhymes: -ɑxt
• Homophone: acht

Acht n

1. A village in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

• Achtenaar
• Achts
• Achtse Barrier
• Achtse Molen
• Nieuw Acht

• van Berkel, Gerard, Samplonius, Kees (2018) Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard (in Dutch), Mijnbestseller.nl, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /axt/, [ʔäχt]

• Audio

  (file)

Substantivation of the numeral acht (“eight”), from Old High German ahtô.

Acht f (genitive Acht, plural Achten)

1. the natural number eight
2. the numeral sign 8
3. a playing card with the value eight
4. a figure eight shape; a bicycle wheel bent out of shape

From Middle High German ahte, from Old High German ahta, from Proto-West Germanic *ahtu (“attention”).

Acht f (genitive Acht, no plural)

1. (in idioms and derivatives, otherwise archaic) attention; regard; heed

   Synonyms: Aufmerksamkeit, Achtung, Beachtung

• achten
• achtgeben (Acht geben)
• achthaben (Acht haben)
• achtlos
• achtsam (in part through achten)
• außer Acht bleiben
• außer Acht lassen
• in Acht nehmen

From Middle High German āhte, from Old High German āhta, from Proto-West Germanic *ą̄htu (“persecution”). Cognate with Old English ōht (“persecution, enmity”).

Acht f (genitive Acht, no plural)

1. (historical) outlawry; banishment (declaration that someone is no longer protected by law)
2. (poetic) sworn enmity; declaration of vendetta
   • 1812, Ernst Moritz Arndt, Vaterlandslied (Der Gott, der Eisen wachsen ließ):

     Dem Buben und dem Knecht die Acht,
     der füttre Krähn und Raben.
     So ziehn wir aus zur Hermannsschlacht
     und wollen Rache haben.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• ächten
• Reichsacht (“imperial ban”)

• Bann

From Middle High German *ahte (attested in Latinised forms like ahta, athta). Probably the same as etymology 3, referring historically to an area around a mansion, monastery, etc., in which the lord of that estate exerted certain rights otherwise exerted by the state or king; compare this sense in Bann (also Bannbezirk, Bannmeile). Alternatively pertaining to etymology 2 as “that which is subject to someone's care”. Semantically, it could also be a variant of Old High German ēht (“property, especially ecclesiastical”), from Proto-West Germanic *aihti, but the vocalism makes this unlikely.

Acht f (genitive Acht, plural Achten)

1. (obsolete, found in western German toponyms) land belonging to a mansion or monastery
   • 1532, anonymous, Weisthum zu Trittenheim (view online)

     […] und das freie hohe gericht sol stahn uf unsers gned. hern von Manderscheidt grundt eigenem gute, da weisen wir unserm gned. hern v. Mand. ein freie acht, do daß hochgericht ufstehet, binnen der freier achten weisen wir der gemeinen von Keferich einen morgen landtz uf dem berge […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “Acht, Zahl, Ziffer” in Duden online
• “Acht, Aufmerksamkeit, Fürsorge” in Duden online
• “Acht, Bann, Ächtung” in Duden online
• “Acht” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Acht” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Acht” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ahtu. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Acht f

1. respect, esteem
2. attention