pupil

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpjuːpəl/
• Hyphenation: pu‧pil

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːpəl
• Homophone: pupal

Etymology 1

From Middle English pupille, from Anglo-Norman pupille (“orphan”), from Latin pūpillus (“orphan, minor”), variant of pūpulus (“little boy”), from pūpus (“child, boy”).

Noun

pupil (plural pupils)

2. (dated outside UK) A learner at a school under the supervision of a teacher.
   • 1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575

     The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Diſcharge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extinguiſh the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and conſequently of all the reſt, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Diſcharged as to one, and ſtand as to all the reſt.

   • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

     Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

3. One who studies under supervision of a renowned expert in their field.

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

4. (law, obsolete) An orphan who is a minor and under the protection of the state.

Usage notes

• A pupil is typically a young person, such as a schoolchild. Older learners, e.g. at university, are generally called students.

Derived terms

• day pupil
• pupil premium

 

Translations

learner

• Albanian: nxënës (sq) m, nxënëse (sq) f
• Arabic: تِلْمِيذ m (tilmīḏ), تِلْمِيذَة f (tilmīḏa)

  Egyptian Arabic: تلميذ m (telmīz), تلميذة f (telmīza)

  Hijazi Arabic: طَالِب m (ṭālib), طَالْبَة f (ṭālba)

• Aragonese: nineta f
• Armenian: աշակերտ (hy) (ašakert)
• Azerbaijani: şagird (az)
• Baluchi: دانش آموز
• Bashkir: уҡыусы (uqıwsı)
• Belarusian: ву́чань m (vúčanʹ), вучані́ца f (vučaníca)
• Bulgarian: учени́к (bg) m (učeník), учени́чка f (učeníčka)
• Burmese: ကျောင်းသား (my) (kyaung:sa:) (male), ကျောင်းသူ (my) (kyaung:su) (female)
• Catalan: alumne (ca) m, alumna (ca) f, pupil (ca) m, pupil·la (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 學生／学生 (zh) (xuésheng), 弟子 (zh) (dìzǐ), 生徒 (zh) (shēngtú)

• Czech: žák (cs) m, žákyně (cs) f, žačka f
• Danish: elev (da) c
• Dutch: leerling (nl) m
• Esperanto: lernejano (eo), lernejanino (female), lernanto, lernantino (female), zorgato, zorgatino (female)
• Estonian: õpilane
• Faroese: næmingur m
• Finnish: oppilas (fi)
• French: élève (fr) m or f
• Georgian: მოსწავლე (mosc̣avle)
• German: Schüler (de) m, Schülerin (de) f, Schulkind (de) n
• Greek: μαθητής (el) m (mathitís), μαθήτρια (el) f (mathítria)

  Ancient Greek: φοιτητής m (phoitētḗs), μαθητής m (mathētḗs), μαθητρία f (mathētría)

• Hebrew: תַּלְמִיד (he) m (talmíd), תַּלְמִידָה f (talmidá)
• Hindi: छात्र (hi) m or f (chātra), शागिर्द (hi) m (śāgird), शिष्य (hi) m (śiṣya)
• Hungarian: tanuló (hu) (schoolchild), diák (hu) (student), tanítvány (hu) (sb's student/disciple), növendék (hu) (sb's student [formal])
• Icelandic: nemandi (is) m
• Irish: dalta m, fealmhac m (literary), fochlac m (literary), scológ f (literary, of holy man)
• Italian: allievo (it) m, allieva (it) f
• Japanese: 学童 (ja) (がくどう, gakudō), 児童 (ja) (じどう, jidō), 生徒 (ja) (せいと, seito), 学生 (ja) (がくせい, gakusei), 弟子 (ja) (でし, deshi)
• Kabyle: abalmud
• Kalmyk: сурһульч (surğulʹç)
• Kazakh: оқушы (oquşy)
• Khmer: សេក្ខ (km) (seek), កូនសិស្ស (koun səh), សិស្ស (km) (səh)
• Korean: 학생(學生) (ko) (haksaeng), 생도(生徒) (saengdo), 제자(弟子) (ko) (jeja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: şagirt (ku), xwendekar (ku)

• Kyrgyz: окуучу (ky) (okuucu)
• Lao: ນັກຮຽນ (nak hīan)
• Latin: studēns m or f or n, discipulus (la) m, discipula f
• Latvian: skolnieks m, skolniece f
• Lithuanian: mokinys m, mokinė f
• Luxembourgish: Schüler pl
• Macedonian: у́ченик m (účenik), уче́ничка f (učénička)
• Malayalam: വിദ്യാർഥി (ml) (vidyāṟthi), ശിഷ്യൻ (ml) (śiṣyaṉ)
• Manx: doltey m
• Mingrelian: მოგურაფუ (mogurapu)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: оюутан (mn) (ojuutan), сурагч (mn) (suragč)

  Mongolian: ᠣᠶᠤᠲᠠᠨ (oyutan), ᠰᠤᠷᠤᠭᠴᠢ (suruɣči)

• Norman: êcolyi m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: elev (no) m, skoleelev m

  Nynorsk: elev m, skoleelev m, skuleelev m

• Old Irish: daltae m
• Ottoman Turkish: شاگرد (şagird)
• Pali: sekha
• Pashto: شاګرد m (šāgᶕrd)
• Persian: شاگِرْد (fa) (šâgerd), تِلْمیذ (fa) (telmiz), خوانَنْدِه (fa) (xânande), طالِب (fa) (tâleb), طالِبِ عِلْم (tâleb-e 'elm) (lofty), دانِش‌آموز (fa) (dâneš-âmuz)
• Plautdietsch: Scheela m
• Polish: uczeń (pl) m, uczennica (pl) f
• Portuguese: aluno (pt) m, aluna (pt) f, pupilo (pt) m, pupila (pt) f
• Quechua: yachakuq (qu), yachachikuq
• Romanian: elev (ro) m, elevă (ro) f
• Russian: учени́к (ru) m (učeník), учени́ца (ru) f (učeníca), уча́щийся (ru) m (učáščijsja), уча́щаяся (ru) f (učáščajasja)
• Sanskrit: छात्र (sa) m (chātra)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgoilear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̏ченӣк m, у̏ченица f, ђа̑к m

  Roman: ȕčenīk (sh) m, ȕčenica (sh) f, đȃk (sh) m

• Skolt Sami: škooulneʹǩǩ
• Slovak: žiak m, žiačka f
• Slovene: učenec (sl) m, učenka f
• Spanish: alumno (es) m, alumna (es) f, pupilo (es) m
• Swedish: elev (sv) c
• Tajik: шогирд (tg) (šogird), талаба (tg) (talaba), хонанда (tg) (xonanda), толиби илм (tolib-i ilm) (lofty)
• Tatar: укучы (tt) (uquçı)
• Telugu: విద్యార్థి (te) (vidyārthi)
• Thai: นักเรียน (th) (nák-riian)
• Turkish: öğrenci (tr)
• Turkmen: okuwçy
• Ukrainian: у́чень (uk) m (účenʹ), учени́ця (uk) f (učenýcja)
• Urdu: شاگِرْد m (śāgird), تِلْمِیذ m (tilmīz), طالِب m (tālib), طالِبِ عِلْم m (tālib-i 'ilm)
• Uyghur: شاگىرت (shagirt), ئوقۇغۇچى (ug) (oqughuchi)
• Uzbek: oʻquvchi (uz), shogird (uz), tolibi ilm (lofty)
• Vietnamese: học sinh (vi) (學生), học trò (vi)
• Volapük: julan (vo), lärnan (vo), tidäb (vo), donajulan
• Welsh: disgybl m
• Yiddish: תּלמיד m (talmed)
• Zulu: umfundi

orphan who is a minor and under the protection of the state

• French: pupille (fr) f
• Polish: wychowanek (pl) m

See also

• learnling

Etymology 2

The pupil is a hole in the iris of the eye which adjusts in size dynamically.

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.

Noun

pupil (plural pupils)

2. (anatomy) The hole in the middle of the iris of the eye, through which light passes to be focused on the retina.
   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 29:

     There are sharks with round pupils, sharks with slitlike pupils, and some with pupils that expand and contract with the amount of light available. As unimpressive as this might sound to people who are used to having their pupils dilate and contract regularly, realize that no bony fish has this modification of the eye.

3. (zoology) The central dark part of an ocellated spot.

Derived terms

• Adie's pupil
• Adie's tonic pupil
• Argyll Robertson pupil
• AR pupil
• blown pupil
• Marcus Gunn pupil
• prostitute's pupil
• pupilar
• pupilary
• pupillary

 

Translations

the hole in the middle of the iris of the eye

• Afrikaans: pupil
• Albanian: bebe (sq) f
• Amis: 'emamosa
• Arabic: حَدَقَة f (ḥadaqa), بُؤْبُؤ m (buʔbuʔ), إنْسَان العَيْن m (ʔinsān al-ʕayn)

  Egyptian: نني (ninni)

  Hijazi Arabic: بُؤبُؤ m (buʔbuʔ)

• Armenian: բիբ (hy) (bib)
• Avar: ясбер (jasber)
• Azerbaijani: bəbək (az)
• Basque: begi-nini
• Belarusian: зрэ́нка f (zrénka), зяні́ца f (zjaníca)
• Bengali: পিউপিল (piupil)
• Bulgarian: зени́ца f (zeníca)
• Catalan: pupil·la (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 瞳孔 (tung⁴ hung²)

  Dungan: нянжынзы (ni͡anřɨnzɨ)

  Mandarin: 瞳孔 (zh) (tóngkǒng), 瞳子 (zh) (tóngzi)

• Chuvash: куҫ шӑрҫи (kuś šărś̬i)
• Czech: zornice f
• Danish: pupil (da) c
• Dutch: pupil (nl) m or f
• Early Modern Korean: 눈엣동자 (nwuneystwongca)
• Egyptian: (ḏfḏ m), (ḥwnt jmt jrt)
• Esperanto: pupilo (eo)
• Estonian: silmaava
• Faroese: sjónop n
• Finnish: pupilli (fi), silmäterä (fi), mustuainen (fi)
• French: pupille (fr) f, prunelle (fr) f
• Georgian: გუგა (guga)
• German: Pupille (de) f (usual); Sehloch (de) n (rare); das Schwarze im Auge (colloquial; sometimes including the iris)
• Greek: κόρη (el) f (kóri)

  Ancient: κόρη f (kórē)

• Guaraní: tesa'ÿi
• Gujarati: કીકી (kīkī)
• Hebrew: אִישׁוֹן (he) m (ishón)
• Hindi: तारा (hi) m (tārā)
• Hungarian: pupilla (hu)
• Ingrian: silmäterä, ruskulain
• Irish: mac imrisc m
• Italian: pupilla (it) f
• Japanese: 瞳 (ja) (ひとみ, hitomi), 瞳孔 (ja) (どうこう, dōkō)
• Jeju: 눈동ᄌᆞ (nundongjaw), 눈공ᄌᆞ (nun'gongjaw)
• Kalmyk: цецгә (tsetsgä)
• Kazakh: қарашық (qaraşyq)
• Khmer: អក្សិតារា (akse’ taaraa), ចក្ខុបសាទ (cakkʰo’ pa’saat), កូនក្រមុំភ្នែក (koon krɑmum pnɛɛk)
• Korean: 눈동자 (ko) (nundongja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bîbik (ku)

• Kyrgyz: карек (karek)
• Latin: pūpilla f, cora f
• Latvian: zīlīte f
• Lithuanian: vyzdys m
• Macedonian: зеница f (zenica), црнка f (crnka)
• Malay:

  Jawi: انق مات, ڤوڤيل

  Rumi: anak mata, pupil

• Malayalam: കൃഷ്ണമണി (ml) (kr̥ṣṇamaṇi)
• Maori: whatupango, whatu, karupango
• Middle Korean: 누ᇇ부텨 (nwunspwuthye)
• Mongolian: хүүхэн хараа (xüüxen xaraa)
• Navajo: anázhiin ałníiʼdiígíí
• Nepali: आँखाको नानी (ā̃khāko nānī)
• Norman: preunelle dé l'yi f
• Norwegian: pupill (no) m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: зѣница f (zěnica)

• Old East Slavic: зѣница f (zěnica)
• Old English: sēo f
• Ottoman Turkish: گوز ببكی (göz bebeği), مردمك (merdümek), حدقه (hadeka)
• Persian: مردمک (fa) (mardomak)
• Polish: źrenica (pl) f
• Portuguese: pupila (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਪੁਤਲੀ f (putlī)
• Romanian: pupilă (ro) f
• Russian: зрачо́к (ru) m (zračók), зени́ца (ru) f (zeníca)
• Sanskrit: कनीनिका (sa) f (kanīnikā), तारा (sa) f (tārā)
• Scottish Gaelic: clach na sùla f, dubh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: zjènica (sh) f, zenica (sh) f, zjȅna (sh) f, zȅna f
• Slovak: zrenica f, zornica f
• Slovene: zenica (sl) f
• Spanish: pupila (es) f
• Swahili: mboni (sw)
• Swedish: pupill (sv) c, ögonsten (sv) c
• Tagalog: inla, balintatao, balintataw
• Tajik: гавҳарак (gavharak), мардумак (mardumak), ангурак (angurak)
• Tarifit: amummu m
• Tatar: күз карасы (tt) (küz qarası)
• Thai: รูม่านตา (ruu-mâan-dtaa)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tooro: emboni class 9
• Turkish: gözbebeği (tr)
• Ukrainian: зіни́ця f (zinýcja), зі́нка f (zínka)
• Uzbek: koʻz qorasi, qorachiq (uz)
• Vietnamese: ngươi (vi), đồng tử (vi)
• Volapük: püpil (vo)
• Welsh: cannwyll llygad f
• White Hmong: ntsiab muag
• Yiddish: אַפּל m (apl), פּופּילע (pupile), שוואַרצאַפּל (shvartsapl), אויגנשוואַרצל (oygnshvartsl), אויגנאַפּל (oygnapl), אויגאַפּל (oygapl), שוואַרצל (shvartsl), קליין מענטשעלע (kleyn mentshele), קליין־מענטשעלע (kleyn-mentshele)
• Yoruba: ọmọlójú
• Zhuang: lwgbaed
• Zulu: inhlamvu yeso class 9/10

Further reading

• Pupil in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• pipul

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pūpillus. Doublet of pubill.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [puˈpil]

Noun

pupil m (plural pupils, feminine pupil·la)

1. orphan

   Synonym: orfe

Further reading

• “pupil” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “pupil”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “pupil” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “pupil” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Etymology

From Latin pūpilla (“little girl”), diminutive of pūpa (“girl”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pupil/, [pʰuˈpʰilˀ]

Noun

pupil c (singular definite pupillen, plural indefinite pupiller)

1. pupil (the hole in the middle of the iris of the eye)

Declension

Declension of pupil

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	pupil	pupillen	pupiller	pupillerne
genitive	pupils	pupillens	pupillers	pupillernes

References

• “pupil” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pyˈpɪl/
• Hyphenation: pu‧pil
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch pupille, from Old French pupille, from Latin pūpilla.

Noun

pupil f (plural pupillen, diminutive pupilletje n)

1. pupil (aperture of the eye)

   Synonym: oogappel

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French pupille, from Latin pūpillus.

Noun

pupil m (plural pupillen, diminutive pupilletje n)

1. (chiefly sports) minor, generally a prepubescent child over the age of 5
2. favoured student, protégé
3. institutionalised pupil (one who receives an upbringing or education in an institution)
4. (archaic) orphan

   Synonym: wees

Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from English pupil, from Middle French pupille, from Latin pūpilla (“pupil; little girl, doll”).

Pronunciation

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /pupel/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /pupɪl/
• Rhymes: -upel, -pel, -el

Noun

pupil (Jawi spelling ڤوڤيل, plural pupil-pupil, informal 1st possessive pupilku, 2nd possessive pupilmu, 3rd possessive pupilnya)

1. (anatomy) pupil (the hole in the middle of the iris of the eye)

Synonyms

• anak mata / انق مات

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French pupille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpu.pil/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -upil
• Syllabification: pu‧pil

Noun

pupil m pers (female equivalent pupilka, diminutive pupilek, related adjective pupilarny)

1. favorite son, favored student, protégé, teacher's pet (student who is perceived to be favored by the teacher)

   Synonym: beniaminek

   Hypernym: faworyt

2. (archaic, education) pupil (learner at a school under the supervision of a teacher)

Declension

Declension of pupil

	singular	plural
nominative	pupil	pupile
genitive	pupila	pupili/pupilów
dative	pupilowi	pupilom
accusative	pupila	pupili/pupilów
instrumental	pupilem	pupilami
locative	pupilu	pupilach
vocative	pupilu	pupile

Noun

pupil m animal (female equivalent pupilka)

1. pet (animal kept as a companion)

Declension

Declension of pupil

	singular	plural
nominative	pupil	pupile
genitive	pupila	pupili
dative	pupilowi	pupilom
accusative	pupila	pupile
instrumental	pupilem	pupilami
locative	pupilu	pupilach
vocative	pupilu	pupile

Further reading

• pupil in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pupil in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French pupille, from Latin pupillus.

Noun

pupil m (plural pupili)

1. pupil

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	pupil	pupilul		pupili	pupilii
genitive-dative	pupil	pupilului		pupili	pupililor
vocative	pupilule			pupililor