cechowy

Cechowy is an adjective in the Polish language meaning related to a guild or belonging to a guild. It derives from cech, a term used for medieval and early modern crafts guilds in Polish towns, which organized production, training, and trade privileges. As an attribute, cechowy is used in historical, legal, and philological contexts to describe things connected with guilds, their rules, or their members.

Historically, cechy regulated apprenticeships, quality standards, prices, and the urban economy. A cechowy artisan was a craftsman who belonged to a guild and operated under its regulations; references to the cechowe prawo or cechowy regulamin appear in sources describing the governance and practices of guilds. Objects, documents, rites, and privileges linked to a guild may be described as cechowe.

In modern usage, cechowy mostly appears in historical and academic texts rather than in everyday speech. The term helps distinguish guild-origin or guild-sanctioned aspects of material culture, such as artifacts labeled cechowe, or discussions of guild laws and practices, within museums, archives, and scholarly works about Polish or Central European crafts.

See also: cech, guild, guild law (prawo cechowe).