What does pesty mean?
Pesty is an adjective with two related meanings. Its literal meaning describes something infested with or overrun by pests, especially unwanted insects, animals, plants, or parasites: “The pesty weeds had taken over the garden.” It can also be used more broadly in informal speech to describe a person or thing that is troublesome, irritating, or unwilling to leave someone alone. In this second sense, it carries a mildly dismissive tone and is often used of customers, children, animals, or neighbours. The word is understood in British and American English, although its figurative use is more conversational than formal. Pesty is related etymologically to pest, pestilence, and pesticide, all of which derive from the same Latin word for a destructive or contaminating influence.
Infested with or overrun by pests; full of unwanted insects, animals, plants, or parasites.
"The old shed was pesty with fleas and woodlice."
Common in literal descriptions of gardens, livestock, buildings, water, and other places where infestation occurs.
Informally, irritating, troublesome, or persistently annoying.
"We finally got rid of the pesty sales representative."
This figurative use is informal and often dismissive.
A word can be pestily annoying: “pesty” began by describing infestation before it became a general term for anything irritating.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of pesty
Pesty was formed in English by adding the suffix -y to pest. The word pest comes through Anglo-French from Latin pestis, meaning “plague” or “contagion,” and was originally associated with destructive disease or infestation. The same Latin root also produced pestilence, pestilential, and pesticide.
How pesty is actually used
The literal sense is common in descriptions of plants, animals, buildings, and places. The sense meaning “annoying” is informal and often carries a dismissive or impatient tone.
Easily confused with pesty
Pesty can literally mean infested with pests, whereas pesky chiefly means irritating or troublesome.