Etymology

pester

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Today it means: To bother, harass, or annoy persistently. Full definition →

Old French empestrer
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromempestrer“encumber”
  2. English todaypester

In the senses of “overcrowd (a place)” and “impede (a person)”: from Middle French and Old French empestrer (“encumber”), influenced by English pest. The modern sense is an extension of the sense “infest”. Comparable to English construction pest + -er (used to form frequentative verbs).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.