pupil

Syllables: pu·pil/ˈpjuːpəl/

pupil noun: a learner at a school under the supervision of a teacher.

Image: Rapidreflex, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

pupil (plural pupils)

(dated outside UK) A learner at a school under the supervision of a teacher.
- 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...1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575
- All of these different methods of teaching elementary reading were successful for some pupils, unsuccessful for others.1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 23
One who studies under supervision of a renowned expert in their field.
- Plato was Socrates' pupil, and in turn Aristotle was Plato's pupil.
- I understand; it’s because I seem to you to be a worse pupil than the judges in court, because obviously you’ll demonstrate to them that the sorts of things your father did are unjust and hated by all the gods.2010, Plato, “Euthyphro”, in Christopher Rowe, transl., The Last Days of Socrates, Penguin Books Ltd., →ISBN, line 9b
(obsolete) An orphan who is a minor and under the protection of the state.

Noun (2)

pupil (plural pupils)

The hole in the middle of the iris of the eye, through which light passes to be focused on the retina.
- 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...1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 29
The central dark part of an ocellated spot.

pupil meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

pupil in Hindi

learner: विद्यार्थी vidyārthī, विद्यार्थिनी vidyārthinī, छात्र chātra, छात्रा chātrā, शिष्य śiṣya, शिष्या śiṣyā
the hole in the middle of the iris of the eye: तारा tārā, तारक tārak, पुतली putlī

pupil in Tamil

மாணவன், கண்மணி, பாவை, கண்பாவை, விழிப்பாவை, கருமணி

pupil in Urdu

learner: شاگِرْد śāgird, تِلْمِیذ tilmīz, طالِب tālib, طالِبِ عِلْم tālib-i 'ilm
the hole in the middle of the iris of the eye: انسان العین insān-ul-ayn, سیاہی چشم siyāhi-e-chasm, پتلی putlī, مردمک mardumak

pupil in Bengali

the hole in the middle of the iris of the eye: পিউপিল piupil

More languagesFewer languages

pupil in Telugu: విద్యార్థి vidyārthi
pupil in Malayalam: വിദ്യാർഥി vidyāṟthi, ശിഷ്യൻ śiṣyaṉ, കൃഷ്ണമണി kr̥ṣṇamaṇi
pupil in Kannada: ಶಿಷ್ಯ śiṣya
pupil in Punjabi: ਪੁਤਲੀ putlī
pupil in Gujarati: કીકી kīkī
pupil in Sanskrit: छात्र chātra, कनीनिका kanīnikā, तारा tārā
pupil in Nepali: आँखाको नानी ā̃khāko nānī
pupil in Pashto: شاګرد šāgᶕrd
pupil in Tagalog: inla, balintatao, balintataw
pupil in Arabic: تِلْمِيذ tilmīḏ, تِلْمِيذَة tilmīḏa, حَدَقَة ḥadaqa, بُؤْبُؤ buʔbuʔ
pupil in Malay: anak mata, pupil
pupil in Persian: شاگِرْد šâgerd, تِلْمیذ telmiz, خوانَنْدِه xânande, طالِب tâleb
pupil in Thai: นักเรียน nák-riian, รูม่านตา ruu-mâan-dtaa
pupil in Vietnamese: học sinh, học trò, ngươi, đồng tử
pupil in Myanmar: ကျောင်းသား kyaung:sa:, ကျောင်းသူ kyaung:su

Examples of pupil in a sentence

The bell which called the pupils to their lessons can still be seen on the roof.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 269, about a school in Lower Peover:
Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:
There are sharks with round pupils, sharks with slitlike pupils, and some with pupils that expand and contract with the amount of light available.1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 29:

All 40 example sentences with pupil

Forms of pupil

plural	pupils

Plural of pupil: pupils

Origin of pupil

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

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.

Phrases with pupil

Words that rhyme with pupil

Questions about pupil

What does pupil mean?: Pupil means a learner at a school under the supervision of a teacher.
What is pupil in Hindi?: Pupil in Hindi is विद्यार्थी (vidyārthī), विद्यार्थिनी (vidyārthinī), छात्र (chātra). See Pupil meaning in Hindi.
How do you use pupil in a sentence?: The bell which called the pupils to their lessons can still be seen on the roof.
What part of speech is pupil?: Pupil is a noun.
How do you pronounce pupil?: Pupil is pronounced /ˈpjuːpəl/.
What is the plural of pupil?: The plural of pupil is pupils.

Words near pupil in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: pupil (page history and authors); pupil (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಶಿಷ್ಯ (Kannada) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pupil.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pupil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pupil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.