Scotland’s favourite weather word! The ch is pronounced as the throaty sound in loch. If you do not have this sound in your language, you may hear it as k, and loch and lock will sound identical to you. If you have this problem, try pronouncing dreich and loch as though they ended with a strong h sound and you will get quite close to the correct pronunciation. Once you can do that, you will be able to train your ears to hear the sound. You will also improve your Dutch and German accent for names such as van Gogh, Bach and Munich. Sheena Blackhall in Wittgenstein’s Web (1996) enthuses: Nae Inglis wird alane can convoy the multiplicity o thocht ahin thon ae wird dreich. Dreich is a cauld, mochy, jeelin, dowie wird — a wird fur weather, character, emotion: an yon’s bit scartit the tap o’t, fur there’s a guid gowpenfu o the eldritch steered inno’t anna. [No English word alone can convey the multiplicity of thought behind that one word dreich. Dreich is a cold, clammy, chilling, depressing word – a word for weather, character, emotion: and that’s but scratched the surface of it, for there’s a good double handful of the supernatural stirred into it as well].
Dreich can be all of these things. It can also mean dry as dust (as in a dreich sermon) and with reference to weather may suggest anything and everything from merely overcast to distinctly damp, but it always carries a burden of utter joylessness.