Gest or jest?
gest is a prefix meaning “Used to form names of steroids, progestogens”; jest is a verb meaning “To tell a joke; to talk in a playful manner; to make fun of something or someone”. They sound the same (/d͡ʒɛst/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) jest is about 11 times as common as gest.
What is the difference between gest and jest?
| gest | jest | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, prefix, suffix | noun, verb, adverb |
| Meaning | Used to form names of steroids, progestogens | To tell a joke; to talk in a playful manner; to make fun of something or someone |
| Example | a. 1639, Joseph Mede, a sermon And surely no Ceremonies of dedication , no not of Solomons Temple it self , are comparable to those sacred… | I made that comment in jest; it wasn't serious |
| Forms | gests, gest- | jests, jesting, jested |
| Pronunciation | /d͡ʒɛst/ | /d͡ʒɛst/ /d͡ʒiːst/ |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words | 1.1 times per million words |
Sources: gest and jest in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of gest and jest
gest
- 1
Used to form names of steroids, progestogens
- 2
Used to form names of steroids, progestogens
jest
- 1
To tell a joke; to talk in a playful manner; to make fun of something or someone
Surely you jest!
- 2
Pronunciation spelling of just
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, gest or jest?
gest appears about once in every 9 million words; jest 1.1 times per million words.
gest about once in every 9 million wordsjest 1.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search gest vs jest?
“gest vs jest” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“jest vs gest”, “gest or jest”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.