pest

pest

See also: Pest, pěst, and пест

English

Etymology

In the 15th 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.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /pɛst/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

pest (plural pests)

1. (now rare) A pestilence, i.e. a deadly epidemic, a deadly plague.
   • 2020 March 24, Qing Zhu and Zhang Ming, “Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, China Faces Plague of Locusts”, in Minghui‎:

     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 wrongdoings.

2. Any destructive insect that attacks crops or livestock; an agricultural pest.
3. An annoying person, a nuisance.
4. An animal regarded as a nuisance, destructive, or a parasite, vermin.
5. An invasive weed.

Synonyms

• (creature): bug

Related terms

• garden pest
• pester
• pesting
• pesthole
• pesthouse
• pesticidal, pesticide
• pestiferous
• pestilence, pestilent, pestilential

Translations

plague

Bulgarian: чума (bg) f (čuma) Catalan: pesta (ca) f, plaga (ca) f Dutch: pest (nl), plaag (nl) French: peste (fr) German: Seuche (de) f, Pest (de) f Greek: πανούκλα (el) f (panoúkla), μάστιγα (el) f (mástiga), πληγή (el) f (pligí), λοιμός (el) m (loimós) Indonesian: pes (id) Macedonian: чу́ма f (čúma) Polish: plaga (pl) f, zaraza (pl) f, epidemia (pl) f Portuguese: peste (pt) f Romanian: pestă (ro) f Russian: чума́ (ru) f (čumá), мор (ru) m (mor) Scottish Gaelic: plàigh f Spanish: peste (es) f, pestilencia (es) f, epidemia (es) f Swedish: pest (sv) c Tagalog: angol, taping (animal) Walloon: pesse (wa)

destructive insect

Armenian: վնասատու (hy) (vnasatu), վնասատու կենդանի (vnasatu kendani), ուտիճ (hy) (utič) Belarusian: шко́днік m (škódnik) Bulgarian: вредител (bg) m (vreditel) Danish: skadedyr (da) Dutch: pest (nl), plaag (nl) Estonian: kahjur (et) Finnish: tuhoeläin (fi) French: peste (fr) f, nuisible (fr) m Georgian: მავნებელი (mavnebeli) German: Schädling (de) m Icelandic: meindýr n Italian: parassita (it) m Macedonian: штеточина f (štetočina) Maori: orotā, kīrearea Norwegian: Bokmål: skadedyr n Nynorsk: skadedyr n Polish: szkodnik (pl) m, insekt (pl) m Portuguese: peste (pt) f Russian: вреди́тель (ru) m (vredítelʹ) Scottish Gaelic: plàigh f Serbo-Croatian: štetòčina (sh) f, štȅtnīk (sh) m Swedish: skadedjur (sv) n Turkish: haşere (tr) Ukrainian: шкідни́к m (škidnýk) Volapük: minimil (vo), (animal) dämabanim, (diminutive) dämabanimil, (insect) dämabanäsäk, (plant) dämabaplan

annoying person

Bulgarian: досадник m (dosadnik) Danish: plage (da), plageånd, pestilens Dutch: lastpak (nl) n Finnish: maanvaiva, kiusankappale (fi), kiusanhenki French: peste (fr) f German: Nervensäge (de) f, Quälgeist (de) m Greek: ζιζάνιο (el) n (zizánio) Irish: crá croí m Maori: orotā, nanakia, pōrearea Navajo: doo yildinii Plautdietsch: Onjenieech n, Ploag f Portuguese: peste (pt) m or f Russian: вреди́тель (ru) m (vredítelʹ), парази́т (ru) m (parazít) Scottish Gaelic: plàigh f Serbo-Croatian: dosadnjáković m, dosàdnjāk (sh) m Spanish: moscardón (es) m

Anagrams

• EPTs, ESTP, PETs, STEP, Sept, Sept., TPEs, Teps, pets, sept, sept-, spet, step, step-

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Danish

Etymology

From French peste, from Latin pestis (“disease, plague, pest, destruction”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛst/, [pʰɛsd̥]

Noun

pest c (uncountable, singular definite pesten)

1. (pathology) plague
2. (figuratively) pestilence

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

pest f (uncountable)

1. A plague, pest, pestilence.
2. A specific bovine plague
3. An obnoxious person

Derived terms

• builenpest
• koeienpest
• pestbacil
• pestblaar
• pestbos
• pestbuil
• pesten
• pestepidemie
• pester
• pesterij
• pestgeval
• pestgezwel
• pesthaard
• pesthekel
• pesthol
• pesthuis
• pestilent
• pestkop
• pestlijder
• pestlucht
• pestvent
• pestvogel
• pestziek
• varkenspest
• vogelpest

 

Descendants

• Negerhollands: pest
• → Indonesian: pes
• → Japanese: ペスト (pesuto)
• → Papiamentu: peste

Verb

pest

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of pesten
2. imperative of pesten

References

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

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Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛst/

Noun

pest f (Arabic spelling پەست‎)

1. pressure, oppression

References

• Chyet, Michael L. (2003), “pest”, in Kurdish–English Dictionary, with selected etymologies by Martin Schwartz, New Haven and London: Yale University Press

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin pestis.

Noun

pest f or m (definite singular pesta or pesten, indefinite plural pester, definite plural pestene)

1. a plague

   sky (noe/noen) som pesten - avoid (something/someone) like the plague

   velge mellom pest og kolera - choose the lesser of two evils

Derived terms

• byllepest
• forpeste
• pestepidemi

References

• “pest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin pestis.

Noun

pest m (definite singular pesten, indefinite plural pestar, definite plural pestane)
pest f (definite singular pesta, indefinite plural pester, definite plural pestene)

1. a plague

   sky (noko/nokon) som pesten - avoid (something/someone) like the plague

   velje mellom pest og kolera - choose the lesser of two evils

Derived terms

• byllepest
• forpeste
• pestepidemi

References

• “pest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *pęstь.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pêːst/

Noun

pȇst f (Cyrillic spelling пе̑ст)

1. (regional, literary) fist

Declension

Declension of pest

	singular	plural
nominative	pȇst	pesti
genitive	pesti	péstī
dative	pesti	pestima
accusative	pest	pesti
vocative	pesti	pesti
locative	pesti	pestima
instrumental	pesti/pešću	pestima

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Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *pęstь. Cognate with Serbo-Croatian пест, pest, Slovak päsť, Russian пясть (pjastʹ, “middle part of the hand”) and запя́стье (zapjástʹje), dialectal Bulgarian (Western dialects) пестник (pestnik), песник (pesnik), пестница (pestnica). Compare Ancient Greek πυγμή (pugmḗ), English fist, German Faust.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /péːst/

Noun

pẹ̑st f

1. (anatomy) fist

Inflection

Feminine, i-stem, mobile accent
nom. sing.	pést
gen. sing.	pestí
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	pést	pestí	pestí
accusative	pést	pestí	pestí
genitive	pestí	pestí	pestí
dative	pêsti	pestéma	pestém
locative	pêsti	pestéh	pestéh
instrumental	pestjó	pestéma	pestmí

Derived terms

• pésten

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Swedish

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin pestis.

Noun

pest c

1. A plague
2. A pest; something deeply annoying

Derived terms

• blodpest
• böldpest
• lungpest
• pest och pina
• välja mellan pest och kolera

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Tocharian B

Particle

pest

1. a perfectivizing particle used with verbs