What does pesthouse mean?
Pesthouse is a historical term for a hospital or designated building used to care for people with a contagious disease, particularly plague. In earlier periods, such establishments could serve both medical and public-health purposes: they treated the sick, housed people who had contracted an epidemic disease, and helped limit its spread by separating infected individuals from the wider population. The word can be understood literally as a house for those affected by the pest, with “pest” deriving from an older term for plague or a devastating epidemic. Today, pesthouse is uncommon in ordinary speech, but it remains useful when discussing the history of hospitals, quarantine, and epidemic control. References to a medieval or early modern pesthouse generally evoke institutions established in response to outbreaks rather than general medical facilities intended for routine treatment.
nounA hospital for people suffering from a contagious or pestilential disease, especially plague. The term is chiefly historical and also refers to a place established to isolate infected people.
- A hospital for people suffering from a contagious or pestilential disease, especially plague; historically, a place for isolating infected people.
"The medieval city built a pesthouse on its outskirts to isolate victims of plague."
"The medieval city built a pesthouse on its outskirts to isolate victims of plague."
"During the outbreak, officials converted an old monastery into a pesthouse for the sick."
The regular plural adds -s.
"Several pesthouses were established outside the city during the epidemic."
Before modern antibiotics and intensive care, a pesthouse was often a city's last barrier against an epidemic.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pesthouse come from?
Pesthouse is an English compound formed from pest and house. Pest came through Middle English and Old French from Latin pestis, meaning plague or a contagious disease, while house is native English and has a separate Germanic origin. The compound therefore literally denotes a house or institution for people affected by pestilence.
Related word forms
How pesthouse is actually used
Pesthouse is now rare and largely historical. It is often discussed in accounts of plague, quarantine, and the development of public-health institutions.