jest

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
jest/ʤest/

▶noun something said or done for amusement; a joke. ▶verb speak or act in a joking manner.

– derivatives
jesting adjective & noun,
jestingly adverb.

– origin ME (orig. ‘exploit, heroic deed’, later ‘a story of heroic deeds’): from earlier gest, from OFr. geste, from L. gesta ‘actions, exploits’.