different between pest vs mischief

English

Etymology

From Middle French peste (whence French peste), ultimately from Latin pestis.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /p?st/
• Rhymes: -?st

Noun

pest (plural pests)

1. (originally) A plague, pestilence, epidemic
2. Any destructive insect or caterpillar 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.

Synonyms

• (creature): bug

Related terms

• garden pest
• pester
• pesting
• pesthole
• pesthouse
• pesticidal, pesticide
• pestiferous
• pestilence, pestilent, pestilential

Translations

Anagrams

• EPTs, ESTP, PETs, STEP, Sept, Sept., TPEs, Teps, pets, sept, sept-, spet, step, step-

Danish

Etymology

From French peste, from Latin pestis (“disease, plague, pest, destruction”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?st/, [p??sd?]

Noun

pest c (uncountable, singular definite pesten)

1. (medicine) plague
2. (figuratively) pestilence

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?st

Noun

pest f (uncountable)

1. A plague, pest, pestilence.
2. A specific bovine plague
3. An obnoxious person

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: pes

Verb

pest

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of pesten
2. imperative of pesten

References

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?st/

Noun

pest f (Arabic spelling ?????)

1. pressure, oppression

References

• Chyet, Michael L. (2003) , “pest”, in Kurdish–English Dictionary, with selected etymologies by Martin Schwartz, New Haven and London: Yale University Press

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin pestis

Noun

pest f or m (definite singular pesta or pesten, indefinite plural pester, definite plural pestene)

1. a plague

   sky (noe/noen) som pesten - avoid (something/someone) like the plague

   velge mellom pest og kolera - choose the lesser of two evils

Derived terms

• byllepest
• forpeste
• pestepidemi

References

• “pest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin pestis

Noun

pest m (definite singular pesten, indefinite plural pestar, definite plural pestane)
pest f (definite singular pesta, indefinite plural pester, definite plural pestene)

1. a plague

   sky (noko/nokon) som pesten - avoid (something/someone) like the plague

   velje mellom pest og kolera - choose the lesser of two evils

Derived terms

• byllepest
• forpeste
• pestepidemi

References

• “pest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *p?st?

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pê?st/

Noun

p?st f (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. (regional, literary) fist

Declension

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *p?st?. Cognate with Serbo-Croatian ????, pest, Slovak päs?, Russian ????? (pjast?, “middle part of the hand”) and ????????? (zapjást?je), dialectal Bulgarian (Western dialects) ??????? (pestnik), ?????? (pesnik), ???????? (pestnica). Compare Ancient Greek ????? (pugm?), English fist, German Faust.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pé?st/

Noun

p??st f

1. (anatomy) fist

Inflection

Derived terms

• pésten

Swedish

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin pestis.

Noun

pest c

1. A plague
2. A pest; something deeply annoying

Derived terms

• blodpest
• böldpest
• lungpest
• pest och pina
• välja mellan pest och kolera

English

Etymology

From Middle English myschef, meschef, meschief, mischef, from Old French meschief, from meschever (“to bring to grief”), from mes- (“badly”) + chever (“happen; come to a head”), from Vulgar Latin *capare, from Latin caput (“head”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?st??f/, /?m??t??f/
• Rhymes: -?st??f

Noun

mischief (countable and uncountable, plural mischiefs)

1. (uncountable) Conduct that playfully causes petty annoyance.

   Synonyms: delinquency, naughtiness, roguery, scampishness; see also Thesaurus:villainy, Thesaurus:mischief

2. (countable) A playfully annoying action.

3. (collective) A group or a pack of rats.
   • 2014, G. W. Rennie, The Rat Chronicles, iUniverse ?ISBN, page 21

     Kirac, the leader of the rats under his charge, speaks to the major through his telepathic abilities that manifested after the alien virus infected him and his mischief of rats.

   • 2015, Rachel Smith, John Davidson, Rats For Kids, Mendon Cottage Books ?ISBN, page 6

     A group of rats is not a herd or a gaggle, but a pack or a mischief of rats. Rats in general are omnivorous, meaning they will eat almost anything.

4. (archaic) Harm or injury:
   1. (uncountable) Harm or trouble caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause.
      • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume I, Chapter 8:

        Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.
   2. (countable) An injury or an instance of harm or trouble caused by a person or other agent or cause.

5. (law) A criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.
6. (archaic, countable) A cause or agent of annoyance, harm or injury, especially a person who causes mischief.

   Synonyms: bad boy, knave, rapscallion, rascal, rogue; see also Thesaurus:villain, Thesaurus:troublemaker
7. (euphemistic) The Devil; used as an expletive.
   • 1967, The Statesman (volume 12, page 260)

     What the mischief are you? and how the mischief did you get here, and where in thunder did you come from?

8. (Australia) Casual and/or flirtatious sexual acts.

Synonyms

• (harm or injury): agitation, annoyance, corruption, damage, demolition, destruction, detriment, disablement, disruption, evil, harm, hurt, ill, impairment, incapacitation, injury, nuisance, pique, ravage, sabotage, scathe, trouble, undoing, unmaking, vexation, weakening, wrong

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• mischief at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Mischief in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Middle English

Noun

mischief

1. Alternative form of myschef