pest

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French peste (“epidemic, bubonic plague”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin pestis (“plague, pestilence; destruction, bane”),^[2][4][3][7] a word of unknown or uncertain origin.^[2][3][4][7] The “Shorter Oxford”, Hoad and the “Oxford Dictionary of English” allow a borrowing straight from the Latin noun,^[8][9][10] and Barnhart thinks the English form was also influenced by the older pestilence.^[3] In French the word meant an epidemic from about 1460 and a troublemaker from about 1475,^[2] and Anglo-Norman peste is recorded from the late 13th century for a deadly epidemic.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A deadly epidemic disease, especially bubonic plague: 1479, in a Scottish legal record.^[2] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to the 15th century,^[5] while Etymonline gives the 1550s, in curses such as a pest upon...,^[4] and Barnhart 1568.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first pest was the plague itself; patients were sent to the pesthouse, and Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories notes that Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year (1722) mentions people moved "to the pesthouse beyond Bunhill fields".^[12] The word soon weakened to anything destructive or troublesome: the OED's first example is in G. Douglas's Scots translation of the Aeneid (before 1522),^[2] while Barnhart dates the weaker sense to 1609 and Etymonline to about 1600.^[3][4] An annoying person is now the most common kind of pest.^[12][13] The sense of an insect or other animal that damages crops or livestock is recorded from 1748;^[2] the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins links its appearance to the fading fear of plague.^[14] Curses such as a pest on... are found from 1632 in the OED,^[2] and in Sussex what the pest! was a mild oath.^[15] The French word kept its old sense, so Camus's novel La Peste was translated as The Plague.^[12] The verb pest, to annoy or plague, is recorded from before 1729,^[2] and was used in Scotland and northern England for "to pester".^[15]

Timeline

• 1479 – a deadly epidemic disease, the plague.^[2]
• before 1522 – a destructive or troublesome person or thing.^[2]
• 1568 – plague, pestilence (Barnhart's first record).^[3]
• 1632 – in curses, a pest on....^[2]
• before 1729 – verb, to annoy, plague.^[2]
• 1748 – an animal, especially an insect, that attacks crops or livestock.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An annoying person or thing; a nuisance: My little sister is a real pest when I'm studying.^[13][5][2]
2. An insect or other animal, or a weed, that damages crops, livestock or stored goods: pest control.^[13][5][2]
3. (historical) A deadly epidemic disease, especially bubonic plague; pestilence.^[2][5][13]

Verb

1. To annoy or pester.^[2][15]

Word family

• pesty
• integrated pest management
• tin pest

Related words

• pester
• pesthole
• pesthouse
• pesticide
• pestiferous
• pestilence
• pestilent
• pestilential
• pesky

Usage notes

The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins notes that pester is not directly connected: it comes from empestrer (“to encumber”), though its English form was influenced by pest.^[14] It suggests that pesky may be related to pest, perhaps through pesty.^[14]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c 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)