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pupil

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English has two nouns spelled pupil, a student and the opening in the eye; both come through French from Latin diminutives of pūpus "boy" and pūpa "girl, doll", but they were borrowed separately.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpjuːpəl/, /ˈpj̥uːpəɫ/[4]

pupil1 student

Etymology

The student is borrowed from Anglo-Norman pupille and pupille, an orphan who is a minor and therefore a ward, recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1327,[3][5][6] and also directly from Latin pūpillus (“orphan, ward, minor”) (feminine pūpilla),[3][7][6] a diminutive of pūpus (“boy”) (feminine pūpa (“girl”)).[6][8][9] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart consider pūpus probably related to puer (“boy, child”), and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *pau- (“few, little”).[10][7][6] Weekley called pūpus and pūpa baby words, of the same type as papa.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

An orphan who is a minor and so a ward: c. 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible ("To visit pupilles and widewes in her tribulacioun").[3][11] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1384 and the late 14th century.[7][6]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense of a ward survives in civil law, and in Scots law pupil is a boy under 14 or a girl under 12 who is in the care of a guardian.[3][12][9] In the 16th century the word acquired its usual meaning, a person being taught by another; the OED's first example is from Thomas Elyot in 1531, and Barnhart dates the sense to 1563.[3][7][1] Weekley notes that the original sense, still alive in French, survives in English pupilage.[11] From 1832 a pupil is also a trainee barrister undergoing pupillage.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1384 – an orphan who is a ward.[3][7]
  • 1531 – a person taught by another, a student.[3]
  • 1599 – the verb, to teach as a pupil (obsolete).[3]
  • 1832 – a trainee barrister.[3]
  • 1839–40 – the pupil-teacher system is introduced from Holland.[11]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person, especially a child, who is taught at school or by a private teacher; a student.
  2. A person who has studied under a famous master; a disciple.
  3. (civil law, Scots law) A boy under 14 or a girl under 12 who is in the care of a guardian.
  4. (law) A trainee barrister.

Word family

  • pupillage

pupil2 opening in the eye

Etymology

The opening in the eye is borrowed from Middle French pupille, recorded in French from 1314,[3][8] and also directly from Latin pūpilla,[3][13][7] a diminutive of pūpa (“girl, doll”).[6][10][9] It was so called from the tiny reflected image, like a little doll, that one sees of oneself in another person's eye.[6][7][1][14] Klein explains the Latin use as a loan translation of Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl; pupil of the eye”).[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The opening in the iris through which light enters the eye: ?a1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.[3] Barnhart finds pupilla, a Latinate form, in English in 1392 and pupille before 1400.[7]

Semantic evolution

From 1599 it was also used in extended senses.[3] Since 1826 entomologists have used it for the central spot of an eye-like mark on a butterfly's or moth's wing.[3][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the apple of the eye".[16] Weekley compares the old English phrase "look babies in one another's eyes", from the same reflected images.[11]

Timeline

  • 1392 – pupilla, a Latinate form, in English.[7]
  • ?a1425 – the opening in the iris of the eye.[3]
  • 1599 – in extended use.[3]
  • 1826 – the centre of an eye-spot on an insect's wing.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The dark round opening in the centre of the iris through which light enters the eye.
  2. (zoology) The central spot of an eye-like marking, as on a butterfly's wing.

Word family

  • pupillary

References

  1. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  15. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.