English → Latin
“pest” in Latin
pestisdisease, plague, pestilence, infection; a pest; destruction, ruin, deathperniciēsruin, destruction; disaster, calamity; bane, pestvomicaabscess, boil, sore, ulcer
The English word pest itself goes back to Latin pestis.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
pest
A destructive person or thing, pestis; pernicies; pestis ac pernicies (☞ not lues, or vomica): he is the pest of the youth, pestis est adolescentium.
A pestilence, Vid: PEST-HOUSE, *aedificium ad pestilentiae contagia prohibenda exstructum (Pliny has pestilentiae contagia prohibere; 23, 8, 80).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for pest?
- The usual Latin words for “pest” are pestis, perniciēs, vomica. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.