Skip to content

pupil

noun

  1. student of another person or of a school
L11086 on Wikidata ↗

noun

  1. part of an eye
L1109241 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈpjuːpəl/ / /ˈpj̥uːpəɫ/

noun

Etymology: 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.

  1. 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 modification of the eye.

  2. The central dark part of an ocellated spot.