pesky

Etymology

It is probably formed irregularly from English pest + -y,^[2][3][4] or is an alteration of the noun;^[5][6] the OED also considers an alteration of pesty, which is, however, recorded later.^[5] Collins takes it as changed from that adjective.^[7] Barnhart and Etymonline call it perhaps a dialectal formation,^[4][8] and Partridge suggested an origin in the dialect of Essex.^[8] The noun pest is from French peste, from Latin pestis (“deadly contagious disease; a curse”).^[8] The OED compares plaguy, an adjective of similar sense formed from plague.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Annoying, confounded: 1775, in a letter of S. Deane printed in the Connecticut Historical Society's collections,^[5] originally in New England dialect.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as American colloquial speech.^[8][4][9] In American use it also served as an intensive adverb meaning "extremely": Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (1848) quotes a pesky sight worse job and so pesky slow from the Major Jack Downing letters.^[10][2][8] The OED records this use from 1833 and calls it now regional, chiefly Scottish and North American.^[5] Wright's dialect dictionary also found the adjective, meaning troublesome or tiresome, in Scotland, Yorkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.^[11] Collins labels it informal and chiefly American and Canadian.^[7]

Timeline

• 1775 – annoying, troublesome, in New England.^[5][8][4]
• 1833 – adverb, extremely, very.^[5][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (informal) Annoying or troublesome: A pesky fly kept landing on the cake.^[7][2][5]

Adverb

1. (chiefly US, informal) Extremely, very.^[2][9][10]

Word family

• peskily
• peskiness

Related words

• pest
• pestilence
• plaguy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)