Molestor

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who sexually abuses, assaults or harasses another individual, especially a child
2. Someone who subjects another person to unwanted sexual contact or abusive conduct
3. One who victimizes others through sexual assault, harassment or other forms of abuse

Etymology: The Latin root behind "molestor" is "moles," which meant a mass or a heavy structure, and the same root gave English "mole" in the sense of a breakwater built of heaped stone. Its derived verb, "molestare," meant to trouble or burden, as if pressing down on someone with weight. "Molestus," the adjective, described something annoying or troublesome. "Molestor" is the Latin agent form, meaning one who troubles or harasses. English normally uses "molester," formed on the same Latin base, and the sense has narrowed over time. In modern use it most often refers to someone who sexually abuses or attacks another person, but the older English sense was broader, covering anyone who disturbs, interferes with, or harasses another. The physical image of weight survives only in the word's history, not in its everyday meaning.