Standard Lemma guide

pest

name · noun · 12 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /pɛst/
  • /pɛʃt/
  • rhymes with -ɛst
  • rhymes with -ɛʃt
  • homophone: pest
  • UK, US: /pɛst/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH1 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

One of the originally three separate cities that were united in 1873 to become the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

The corresponding part of the current-day city of Budapest, on the eastern side of the Danube.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A county in central Hungary, surrounding Budapest.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A pestilence, i.e. a deadly epidemic, a deadly plague.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Any destructive insect that attacks crops or livestock; an agricultural pest.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

An annoying person, a nuisance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

An animal regarded as a nuisance, destructive, or a parasite, vermin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

An invasive weed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

any unwanted and destructive insect or other animal that attacks food or crops or livestock etc.

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he sprayed the garden to get rid of pests
  • many pests have developed resistance to the common pesticides

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, fauna

Narrower terms: vermin

10

noun

Meaning 10

a persistently annoying person

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blighter, cuss, pesterer, gadfly

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: tormentor, tormenter, persecutor

Narrower terms: nudnik, nudnick

11

noun

Meaning 11

any epidemic disease with a high death rate

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: plague, pestilence

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: epidemic disease

12

noun

Meaning 12

a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: plague, pestilence, pestis

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: epidemic disease

Narrower terms: bubonic plague, pestis bubonica, glandular plague, pneumonic plague, pulmonic plague, plague pneumonia, septicemic plague

History

Etymology

From Hungarian Pest, ultimately from Old Church Slavonic пещь (peštĭ, “furnace, oven”). Compare German Ofen (“Buda”, literally “oven”).

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.

Across languages

Translations

116 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • German: Pest — area of Budapest — see also Budapest
  • Hungarian: Pest — area of Budapest — see also Budapest
  • Marathi: पेश्त (peśta) — area of Budapest — see also Budapest
  • Polish: Pest — area of Budapest — see also Budapest
  • Turkish: Peşte — area of Budapest — see also Budapest
  • Ottoman Turkish: پشته (Peşte) — area of Budapest — see also Budapest
  • Hungarian: Pest — county
  • Polish: Pest — county
  • Bulgarian: чума (čuma) — plague
  • Catalan: pesta — plague
  • Catalan: plaga — plague
  • Cornish: pla — plague
  • Cornish: plag — plague
  • Danish: pest — plague
  • Dutch: pest — plague
  • Dutch: plaag — plague
  • French: peste — plague
  • German: Seuche — plague
  • German: Pest — plague
  • Greek: πανούκλα (panoúkla) — plague
  • Greek: μάστιγα (mástiga) — plague
  • Greek: πληγή (pligí) — plague
  • Greek: λοιμός (loimós) — plague
  • Indonesian: pes — plague
  • Irish: plá — plague
  • Macedonian: чу́ма (čúma) — plague
  • Polish: plaga — plague
  • Polish: zaraza — plague
  • Polish: epidemia — plague
  • Portuguese: peste — plague
  • Romanian: pestă — plague
  • Russian: чума́ (čumá) — plague
  • Russian: мор (mor) — plague
  • Scottish Gaelic: plàigh — plague
  • Spanish: peste — plague
  • Spanish: pestilencia — plague
  • Swedish: pest — plague
  • Tagalog: angol — plague
  • Tagalog: taping — plague
  • Ottoman Turkish: طاعون (taʼun) — plague
  • Ottoman Turkish: خستهلق (hastalık) — plague
  • Walloon: pesse — plague
  • Armenian: վնասատու (vnasatu) — destructive insect
  • Armenian: վնասատու կենդանի (vnasatu kendani) — destructive insect
  • Armenian: ուտիճ (utič) — destructive insect
  • Belarusian: шко́днік (škódnik) — destructive insect
  • Bulgarian: вредител (vreditel) — destructive insect
  • Cornish: pla — destructive insect
  • Danish: skadedyr — destructive insect
  • Dutch: pest — destructive insect
  • Dutch: plaag — destructive insect
  • Estonian: kahjur — destructive insect
  • Finnish: tuhoeläin — destructive insect
  • French: peste — destructive insect
  • French: nuisible — destructive insect
  • Georgian: მავნებელი (mavnebeli) — destructive insect
  • German: Schädling — destructive insect
  • Icelandic: meindýr — destructive insect
  • Italian: parassita — destructive insect
  • Macedonian: штеточина (štetočina) — destructive insect
  • Māori: orotā — destructive insect
  • Māori: kīrearea — destructive insect
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skadedyr — destructive insect
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: skadedyr — destructive insect
  • Persian: آفت (āfat) — destructive insect
  • Persian: آگفت (āgaft) — destructive insect
  • Polish: szkodnik — destructive insect
  • Polish: insekt — destructive insect
  • Portuguese: peste — destructive insect
  • Russian: вреди́тель (vredítelʹ) — destructive insect
  • Sardinian: errebiu — destructive insect
  • Scottish Gaelic: plàigh — destructive insect
  • Serbo-Croatian: štetòčina — destructive insect
  • Serbo-Croatian: štȅtnīk — destructive insect
  • Spanish: peste — destructive insect
  • Spanish: pestilencia — destructive insect
  • Swedish: skadedjur — destructive insect
  • Turkish: haşere — destructive insect
  • Ukrainian: шкідни́к (škidnýk) — destructive insect
  • Volapük: minimil — destructive insect
  • Volapük: dämabanim — destructive insect
  • Volapük: dämabanimil — destructive insect
  • Volapük: dämabanäsäk — destructive insect
  • Volapük: dämabaplan — destructive insect
  • Bulgarian: досадник (dosadnik) — annoying person
  • Cornish: mab an pla — annoying person
  • Cornish: myrgh an pla — annoying person
  • Danish: plage — annoying person
  • Danish: plageånd — annoying person
  • Danish: pestilens — annoying person
  • Dutch: lastpak — annoying person
  • Finnish: maanvaiva — annoying person
  • Finnish: kiusankappale — annoying person
  • Finnish: kiusanhenki — annoying person
  • French: peste — annoying person
  • French: moustique — annoying person
  • German: Nervensäge — annoying person
  • German: Quälgeist — annoying person
  • Greek: ζιζάνιο (zizánio) — annoying person
  • Irish: crá croí — annoying person
  • Māori: orotā — annoying person
  • Māori: nanakia — annoying person
  • Māori: pōrearea — annoying person
  • Navajo: doo yildinii — annoying person
  • Plautdietsch: Onjenieech — annoying person
  • Plautdietsch: Ploag — annoying person
  • Polish: utrapieniec — annoying person
  • Portuguese: peste — annoying person
  • Russian: вреди́тель (vredítelʹ) — annoying person
  • Russian: парази́т (parazít) — annoying person
  • Scottish Gaelic: plàigh — annoying person
  • Scottish Gaelic: meaban — annoying person
  • Serbo-Croatian: dosadnjáković — annoying person
  • Serbo-Croatian: dosàdnjāk — annoying person
  • Spanish: moscardón — annoying person
  • Esperanto: damaĝbesto — animal regarded as a nuisance