pest
/pɛst/noun
pest is spelled P-E-S-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Pest, the name). As a noun, pest means “Any destructive insect that attacks crops or livestock; an agricultural pest” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pest is pests.
How many letters and syllables are in pest?
| Letters | 4: P-E-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is pest?
Pest appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Pest, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pest?
- US /pɛst/
Pest has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pest.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-pest.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with pest?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as pest from its last stressed vowel (/ɛst/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: step, sept, spet.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of pest
- pests plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pest mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA pestilence, i.e. a deadly epidemic, a deadly plague.
- 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pest in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | peste , nuisible , moustique |
| German | Seuche, Pest , Schädling , Nervensäge, Quälgeist |
| Portuguese | peste |
| Spanish | peste, pestilencia , moscardón |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pest come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).