Uncertain. Possibly from a slang expression. Compare Portugueselesto(“fast, agile”), Spanishlisto and Catalanllest.

• IPA^(key):/ˈlɛs.to/
• Rhymes:-ɛsto
• Hyphenation:lè‧sto

lesto (femininelesta,masculine plurallesti,feminine pluralleste)

1. quick,fast

   Camminavalesto verso casa. ―He was walking homefast.

• → French:leste

• lesto in Treccani.it –Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• solte,stelo,stole,tolse

Perhaps fromProto-Germanic*listiz; compareOld High German andOld Norselista,Englishlist,Italianlesto andSpanishlisto. Alternatively, possibly from aVulgar Latin*lextus or*lestus, reduced from*lexitus, as an alteration ofLatinlēctus(“chosen; read”), participle oflegō.

lesto (femininelesta,masculine plurallestos,feminine plurallestas)

1. agile

   Synonyms:ágil,desembaraçado,rápido

• “lesto”, inDicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora,2003–2025
• “lesto”, inDicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam,2008–2025

An uncertain formation, but ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*legʰ-(“to lie (down), lay; resting place”), whencelyäk-. Cognate withTocharian Alyäk. Also related tolest(“heap, pile”).

lesto

1. nest (of a bird),den (of an animal),lair

• Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “lesto”, inA Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European;10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi,→ISBN,page609