Meanings
comparative peskier · superlative peskiest
- informalAnnoying, troublesome, irritating (usually of an animal or child).
That pesky dog is barking again.
2 more examples
Stay out of my yard, you pesky kids!
Again, 26 KxB can be answered by that pesky ...RxB†.
1969 June, Petar Trifunović, “Fifth Women's Tournament”, in Chess ReviewSynonyms: aggravating, aggy, annoying, wretched, displeasing, bothersome, chagrining, cruddy
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveAnnoying, troublesome, irritating (usually of an animal or child).
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivecausing irritation or annoyance
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Possibly from pesty. Compare similar alteration between nasty and nasky.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian досаден, отегчителен
- досаден (dosaden)annoying, troublesome, irritating
- отегчителен (otegčitelen)annoying, troublesome, irritating
Czech otravný
- otravnýannoying, troublesome, irritating
Dutch irritant, vervelend
- irritantannoying, troublesome, irritating
- vervelendannoying, troublesome, irritating
- rottigannoying, troublesome, irritating
- lastigannoying, troublesome, irritating
Esperanto incitema
- incitemaannoying, troublesome, irritating
Finnish ärsyttävä
- ärsyttäväannoying, troublesome, irritating
French agaçant
- agaçantannoying, troublesome, irritating
German nervtötend, lästig
- nervtötendannoying, troublesome, irritating
- lästigannoying, troublesome, irritating
- ärgerlichannoying, troublesome, irritating
- nervigannoying, troublesome, irritating
Greek εκνευριστικός
- εκνευριστικός (eknevristikós)annoying, troublesome, irritating
Italian molesto, fastidioso
- molestoannoying, troublesome, irritating
- fastidiosoannoying, troublesome, irritating
Norwegian plagsom
- plagsomannoying, troublesome, irritating
Polish cholerny, upierdliwy
- cholernyannoying, troublesome, irritating
- upierdliwyannoying, troublesome, irritating
Portuguese chato, irritante
- chatoannoying, troublesome, irritating
- irritanteannoying, troublesome, irritating
Romanian agasant, enervant
- agasantannoying, troublesome, irritating
- enervantannoying, troublesome, irritating
Russian надое́дливый, доку́чливый
- надое́дливый (nadojédlivyj)annoying, troublesome, irritating
- доку́чливый (dokúčlivyj)annoying, troublesome, irritating
- навя́зчивый (navjázčivyj)annoying, troublesome, irritating
- назо́йливый (nazójlivyj)annoying, troublesome, irritating
Swedish irriterande
- irriterandeannoying, troublesome, irritating
Turkish can sıkıcı, nahoş
- can sıkıcıannoying, troublesome, irritating
- nahoşannoying, troublesome, irritating
- sinir bozucuannoying, troublesome, irritating
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pesky
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
pesky. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pesky
“pesky.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pesky. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pesky,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pesky.
Source: pesky on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.