What does pestling mean?
Pestling is an obsolete noun with two related uses: it can mean a noxious weed, especially one troublesome to cultivate, or a person regarded as a pest, nuisance, or disgraceful fellow. The plant sense describes vegetation that is harmful or difficult to control, whereas the figurative sense carries a strongly negative, often insulting judgment about someone’s persistently annoying behavior. Historical dictionaries record both meanings, but the word is no longer part of standard modern English and may sound deliberately old-fashioned. Its unusual combination of a botanical and a personal sense makes pestling more memorable than many ordinary historical nouns. Today it is chiefly useful when reading older literature or looking for a period expression for someone who behaves like a weed that cannot be eradicated—or like a nuisance no one can tolerate.
nounAn obsolete term for a noxious weed or, figuratively, a person regarded as a pest or persistent nuisance.
- A noxious or troublesome weed.
- A person considered a pest, nuisance, or disgraceful fellow.
"Marguerite dismissed her persistent suitor as a tiresome pestling."
"The gardener uprooted each stubborn pestling before it could seed."
"Old accounts refer to the quarrelsome clerk as a pestling who unsettled everyone around him."
The plural is grammatically standard but is now rarely encountered outside historical or deliberately archaic writing.
"The gardener pulled up the pestlings spreading along the boundary wall."
Pestling once covered both a noxious weed and an obnoxious person—two things that share one talent: getting under everyone’s skin.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pestling come from?
Pestling was formed in Middle English from pest and the suffix -ling, a productive ending used in several words denoting a person or thing associated with its base. The base pest came through Old French peste from Latin pestis, meaning “plague” or “contagious disease.” This places pestling in the same etymological family as pester, pestilence, and pestilent.
Related word forms
How pestling is actually used
Pestling is now obsolete in ordinary English and survives mainly in historical texts or deliberately archaic writing. Its use for a person is distinctly disparaging, while its botanical sense is neutral but denotes a weed regarded as harmful or difficult to control.