I need to translate a Czech term involving the common noun 'prosba' - the noun form of 'prosit' - to beg. The closest English noun that I can come up with is 'demand', 'request' but these nouns have a drastically different meaning than 'to beg'.

Is there an appropriate (and not too exotic) English noun? If not, how can I get around it? Do I have to use the verb?

By the way, I think that a 'topic of the week' on common terms from other languages that don't have a common English equivalent would be quite interesting.