pupil

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pjuːpəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːpəl

Etymology 1

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

Noun

pupil (plural pupils)

1. A learner under the supervision of a teacher or professor.
   • 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.

2. (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.

Translations

learner

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

  Egyptian Arabic: تلميذ‏‎ m (telmiiz), تلميذة‏‎ f (telmiiza)

• Armenian: աշակերտ (hy) (ašakert)
• Baluchi: دانش آموز‏‎
• Bashkir: уҡыусы (uqïwsï)
• Bulgarian: у́ченик (bg) m (účenik), у́ченичка f (účenička)
• Burmese: ကျောင်းသား (my) (kyaung:sa:) (male), ကျောင်းသူ (my) (kyaung:su) (female)
• Catalan: pupil (ca) m, pupil·la (ca) f
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: žák (cs) m
• Danish: elev (da) c
• Dutch: leerling (nl) m
• Esperanto: lernejano (eo), lernanto, lernantino (eo), zorgato
• Faroese: næmingur m
• Finnish: oppilas (fi)
• French: élève (fr) m, f
• Georgian: მოსწავლე (mosc̣avle)
• German: Schüler (de) m, Schülerin (de) f, Schulkind (de) n
• Greek: μαθητής (el) m (mathitís), μαθήτρια (el) f (mathítria)
• Hebrew: תַּלְמִיד‏‎ (he) m (talmíd), תַּלְמִידָה‏‎ f (talmidá)
• Hungarian: tanuló (hu), diák (hu)
• 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 (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 (surhul'ç)
• Khmer: សេក្ខ (km) (seek), កូន​សិស្ស (koon səh)
• Korean: 학생 (ko) (haksaeng), 생도 (saengdo), 제자 (ko) (jeja)

• Lao: ນັກຮຽນ (nak hīan)
• Latin: discipulus (la)
• Macedonian: у́ченик m (účenik), у́ченичка f (účenička)
• Manx: doltey m
• Norman: êcolyi m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: elev (no) m, skoleelev m

  Nynorsk: elev m, skoleelev m, skuleelev m

• Old Irish: daltae m
• Persian: شاگرد‏‎ (fa) (šâgerd)
• Polish: uczeń (pl) m
• Portuguese: pupilo (pt) m, pupila (pt) f
• Quechua: yachakuq (qu), yachachikuq
• Romanian: elev (ro) m, eleva (ro) f
• Russian: учени́к (ru) m (učeník), учени́ца (ru) f (učeníca)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgoilear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ученик m, ученица f (učenica), ђак m

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

• Skolt Sami: škooulneʹǩǩ
• Slovak: žiak m
• Slovene: učenec (sl) m, učenka f
• Spanish: alumno (es) m, alumna (es) f, pupilo m
• Swedish: elev (sv) c
• Telugu: విద్యార్థి (te) (vidyārthi)
• Thai: นักเรียน (th) (nák-riian)
• Ukrainian: у́чень (uk) m (účenʹ), учени́ця (uk) f (učenýcja)
• Vietnamese: học sinh (vi), học trò (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) julan (vo), (♂) hijulan (vo), (♀) jijulan (vo), (♂♀) lärnan (vo), (♂) hilärnan, (♀) jilärnan, (♂♀) tidäb (vo), (♂) hitidäb, (♀) jitidäb, (♂♀) donajulan, (♂) donahijulan, (♀) donajijulan
• Welsh: disgybl m
• Zulu: umfundi

Etymology 2

From Middle 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)

1. (anatomy) The hole in the middle of the iris of the eye, through which light passes to be focused on the retina.
2. (zoology) The central dark part of an ocellated spot.

Derived terms

• pupilar
• pupilary
• pupillary

Translations

the hole in the middle of the iris of the eye

• Arabic: حَدَقَة‏‎ f (ḥadaqa), بُؤْبُؤ‏‎ m (buʾbuʾ), إنْسَان العَيْن‏‎ m (ʾinsān al-ʿayn)

  Egyptian: نني‏‎ (ninni)

• Armenian: բիբ (hy) (bib)
• Avar: ясбер (jasber)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: зрэ́нка f (zrénka)
• Bulgarian: зе́ница f (zénica)
• Catalan: pupil·la (ca) f
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: zornice f
• Danish: pupil (da) c
• Dutch: pupil (nl) m, f
• Esperanto: pupilo (eo)
• Faroese: sjónop n
• Finnish: pupilli, silmäterä
• French: pupille (fr) f, prunelle (fr) f
• Georgian: გუგა (guga)
• German: Pupille (de) f, Sehloch (de) n (rare)
• Greek: κόρη (el) f (kóri)
• Guaraní: tesa'ÿi
• Hebrew: אִישׁוֹן‏‎ (he) m (ishón)
• Hungarian: pupilla (hu)
• Irish: mac imrisc m
• Italian: pupilla (it) f
• Japanese: 瞳孔 (どうこう, dōkō), 瞳 (ja) (ひとみ, hitomi)
• Kazakh: қарашық (qaraşıq)
• Khmer: អក្សិតារា (akse’ taaraa), ចក្ខុបសាទ (cakkʰo’ pa’saat), កូនក្រមុំភ្នែក (koon krɑmum pnɛɛk)
• Korean: 눈동자 (ko) (nundongja)
• Latvian: zīlīte f

• Lithuanian: vyzdys m
• Macedonian: зе́ница f (zénica)
• Malay:

  Jawi: انق مات‏‎, ڤوڤيل‏‎

  Rumi: anak mata, pupil

• Maori: whatupango, whatu, karupango
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: anázhiin ałníiʼdiígíí
• Nepali: आँखाको नानी (ãkhāko nāni)
• Norman: preunelle dé l'yi f
• Norwegian: pupill (no) m
• Persian: مردمک‏‎ (fa) (mardomak)
• Polish: źrenica (pl) f
• Portuguese: pupila (pt) f
• Romanian: pupilă (ro) f
• Russian: зрачо́к (ru) m (zračók), зени́ца (ru) f (zeníca)
• 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
• Swedish: pupill (sv) c
• Tagalog: inla, balintatao, balintataw
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: gözbebeği (tr)
• Ukrainian: зіни́ця f (zinýcja)
• Uzbek: koʻz qorasi
• Vietnamese: con ngươi (vi), đồng tử (vi)
• Volapük: püpil (vo)
• Zulu: inhlamvu yeso class 9/10

Anagrams

• pipul

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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

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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)

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

Synonyms

• anak mata / انق مات‏