Other forms: jests
A jest is something said in fun rather than in earnest. In jest, a poor jest, said partly in jest.
It survives almost entirely in the phrase in jest, and many a true word is spoken in jest is the proverb that keeps it alive. The word first meant a deed and then a tale before it meant a joke.
1nounjestSomething said in fun rather than in earnest.
“"I was only speaking in jest," he said, "so please don't be offended."”
jest is a joke.
Old French geste means deeds or exploits, from Latin gesta, things done.
Latin
gesta — acts, deeds
Old French
geste — acts, exploits
Middle English
geste — idle tale
English, today
jest
From Middle English geste (“idle tale”), from Old French geste (“acts, exploits”), from Latin gesta (“acts, deeds”). a doublet of gest.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA