pest
/pɛst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.64 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any destructive insect that attacks crops or livestock; an agricultural pest.
name
One of the originally three separate cities that were united in 1873 to become the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
name
A county in central Hungary, surrounding Budapest.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "On a drizzly mid-January evening, I stood at the arches of the wall of Buda Castle, overlooking the Danube and the 19th-century Chain Bridge that links Buda with Pest."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɛst/
- British English: /pɛst/