pupil

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A child or young person who is being taught at school.

   There are thirty pupils in my daughter's class.

2. 2
   noun

   The small black round opening in the centre of your eye that lets in light.

   In bright sunlight, the pupils of your eyes get smaller.

3. 3
   noun

   Someone who learns from an expert teacher.

   Plato was Socrates' pupil, and Aristotle was Plato's pupil.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

The two senses of pupil followed different routes but share the Latin root pupa “girl, doll.” The sense “student” came through Old French from Latin pupus “boy” and pupa “girl,” first denoting an orphan or ward under a guardian; the eye sense arose from the “doll” meaning of pupa, probably because a tiny reflected figure can be seen in another person’s eye.

From Middle English pupille, from Old French pupille, from Latin pūpilla (“pupil; little girl, doll”), named because of the small reflected image seen when looking into someone's eye.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary