Pesterer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who excessively disrupts or irritates someone else through frequent disturbances
2. Someone who continually bothers or interrupts another person causing annoyance
3. An individual who persistently irritates others by repeated unwanted actions

Etymology: "Pester" itself is the older word, and "pesterer" is simply a noun built on it by adding the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who pesters. The verb "pester" was borrowed into English from Anglo-French "pestrer," which was related to the Old French "empestrer," meaning to hobble or entangle a horse's legs, as though a nuisance had tangled up its victim. That image of being tied up is an apt origin for the sense of harassment, though the precise path of the verb is not fully settled. The suffix is the more traceable part of the story. The ending "-er" descends through Middle English and Old English "-ere" from Proto-Germanic "*-ārijaz," which passed into Latin as "-ārius" and then into Old French as "-ier." English has used this ending for centuries to turn verbs into names for people or things that perform the action, so "pesterer" slots naturally beside older formations such as "banker" or "baker."

Synonyms: botherer, nag, annoyer, harasser, teaser

Antonyms: comforter, soother, helper, assistant, friend