pest
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pest¹
- /pɛst/ UK, US
Rhymes with -ɛst
Where it comes from
In the 16th century in the sense of "pestilence" and specifically bubonic plague from Middle French peste (“pestilence”) (whence French peste). The other meanings are recorded soon after. Ultimately from Latin pestis.
noun pests
- A pestilence, i.e. a deadly epidemic, a deadly plague. From the perspective of traditional Chinese culture, pests and famines are reflections of the current administration’s lack of moral values and deviation from divine will. The head of the administration (the emperor in the past) would then issue an edict to sincerely repent and correct his wrongdoin
- Any destructive insect that attacks crops or livestock; an agricultural pest.
- An annoying person, a nuisance.
- An animal regarded as a nuisance, destructive, or a parasite, vermin.
- An invasive weed.
Similar: bug
Pest²
- /pɛst/
- /pɛʃt/
Sounds like pest · Rhymes with -ɛst, -ɛʃt
Where it comes from
From Hungarian Pest, ultimately from Old Church Slavonic пещь (peštĭ, “furnace, oven”). Compare German Ofen (“Buda”, literally “oven”).
proper noun Pesth
- One of the originally three separate cities that were united in 1873 to become the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
- The corresponding part of the current-day city of Budapest, on the eastern side of the Danube. On a drizzly mid-January evening, I stood at the arches of the wall of Buda Castle, overlooking the Danube and the 19th-century Chain Bridge that links Buda with Pest.
- A county in central Hungary, surrounding Budapest.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: gadfly, blighter, cuss, pesterer, infestation, plague, fever, poison, blight, parasitic, parasitism, organism, phytosanitary, pesticide, larva, vermin
noun
Similar: bug
Translations
Every language
noun plague
| Español | peste, pestilencia |
|---|---|
| Português | peste |
| Français | peste |
| Deutsch | Seuche, Pest |
| Ελληνικά | πανούκλα panoúkla, μάστιγα mástiga, πληγή pligí, λοιμός loimós |
| Română | pestă |
| Русский | чума́ čumá, мор mor |
noun destructive insect
| Español | peste, pestilencia |
|---|---|
| Português | peste |
| Français | peste, nuisible |
| Deutsch | Schädling |
| Italiano | parassita |
| Русский | вреди́тель vredítelʹ |
noun annoying person
| Español | moscardón |
|---|---|
| Português | peste |
| Français | peste, moustique |
| Deutsch | Nervensäge, Quälgeist |
| Ελληνικά | ζιζάνιο zizánio |
| Русский | вреди́тель vredítelʹ, парази́т parazít |
name area of Budapest — see also Budapest
| Deutsch | Pest |
|---|
Talk about this word "pest." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pest. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. pest. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pest "pest." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pest.Cite this
@misc{pest_2026,
title = {pest},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pest},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
