Pest Once Meant Plague, and Still Does in Some Languages
A pest is a destructive animal or an annoying person. The word originally named an epidemic.
A pest is a destructive insect or animal, or an annoying person. Latin *pestis* meant a plague or deadly epidemic, and that sense survives across Europe: German *Pest* and French *peste* still mean the Black Death, not a greenfly. English weakened the word steadily until it could describe a pigeon or a persistent child. *Pestilence* and *pesticide* keep the stronger sense, which is why the second sounds so serious for something aimed at aphids.
- A destructive animal. *Garden pests.*
- An annoying person. *Stop being a pest.*
- A plague (archaic). *The pest.*
- Pesticide — a pest killer. *A pesticide.*
- Latin — *pestis*, a plague. *The root.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | pest | A pest. |
| Plural | pests | Pests. |
| Related | pestilence | Pestilence. |
| Related | pesticide | A pesticide. |
| Latin | pestis | A plague. |
- Slugs are garden pests.Animal.
- He was a proper pest.Person.
- German Pest still means plague.Comparison.
Words that weakened over time
- Pest — from deadly plague to minor nuisance
- Awful — from inspiring awe to merely bad
- Terrific — from causing terror to excellent
- Naughty — from wicked to mildly disobedient
- This weakening is called semantic bleaching
Latin *pestis*, a plague or deadly disease, through French *peste*.
Did pest always mean a nuisance?
No. It meant a deadly epidemic, and German and French still use the word that way.
Why does pesticide sound so severe?
Because it is built on the older sense of pest as a plague, giving it a weight the modern word has lost.