pupil
pronunciation
How to pronounce pupil in British English:
UK [ˈpjuːpl]
How to pronounce pupil in American English:
US [ˈpjuːpl]
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- Noun:
- a learner who is enrolled in an educational institution
- contractile aperture in the iris of the eye
- a young person attending school (up through senior high school)
Word Origin
- pupil
- pupil: [14] Latin pūpus and pūpa meant respectively ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ (pūpa was applied by the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus to ‘chrysalises’, the underlying link being ‘undeveloped creature’, and English adopted it as pupa [19]). The diminutive derivatives pūpillus and pūpilla denoted ‘orphan’, a sense which remained with pūpill- as it passed via Old French pupille into English as pupil. ‘Person being taught’ did not emerge until the 16th century.The application of the word to the ‘black aperture in the eye’, which reached English in the mid-16th century, goes back to Latin pūpilla, which was also used for ‘doll’ – the notion being that if you stand close to someone and look into their eyes, you can see yourself reflected in the pupils like a little ‘doll’.=> pupa, puppet, puppy
- pupil (n.1)
- "student," late 14c., originally "orphan child, ward," from Old French pupille (14c.) and directly from Latin pupillus (fem. pupilla) "orphan child, ward, minor," diminutive of pupus "boy" (fem. pupa "girl"), probably related to puer "child," possibly from PIE *pup-, from root *pu- "to swell, inflate." Meaning "disciple, student" first recorded 1560s. Related: Pupillary.
- pupil (n.2)
- "center of the eye," early 15c. (in English in Latin form from late 14c.), from Old French pupille (14c.), from Latin pupilla, originally "little girl-doll," diminutive of pupa "girl; doll" (see pupil (n.1)), so called from the tiny image one sees of himself reflected in the eye of another. Greek used the same word, kore (literally "girl"), to mean both "doll" and "pupil of the eye;" and compare obsolete baby "small image of oneself in another's pupil" (1590s), source of 17c. colloquial expression to look babies "stare lovingly into another's eyes."Self-knowledge can be obtained only by looking into the mind and virtue of the soul, which is the diviner part of a man, as we see our own image in another's eye. [Plato, "Alcibiades," I.133]
Example
- 1. Ms. kan also believes her pupil is ready .
- 2. Other efforts to exploit pupil dilations for purposes beyond scientific research have failed .
- 3. Each pupil has to be aware of their place in the picture .
- 4. Hunter 's pupil william shippen successfully introduced male midwifery to america .
- 5. Now the pupil has grown into hp 's strongest rival in asia .