student

[ stood-nt, styood- ]

noun

1. a person formally engaged in learning, especially one enrolled in a school or college; pupil:

   a student at Yale.

2. any person who studies, investigates, or examines thoughtfully:

   a student of human nature.

student

/ ˈstjuːdənt /

noun

1. 1. a person following a course of study, as in a school, college, university, etc
   2. ( as modifier )

      student teacher

2. a person who makes a thorough study of a subject

Pronunciation Note

See new.

Other Words From

• student·less adjective
• student·like adjective
• anti·student noun adjective
• non·student noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of student¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin student- (stem of studēns ), present participle of studēre “to take pains”; -ent; replacing Middle English studiant, aphetic variant of estudiant, from Old French, noun use of present participle of estudier “to devote oneself to, study” ( study

Word History and Origins

Origin of student¹

C15: from Latin studēns diligent, from studēre to be zealous; see study

Synonym Study

See pupil ¹.

Example Sentences

"Current medications largely target hallucinations, but they don't address symptoms that make it difficult to manage social relationships, work, or school," said first author Belen Blasco, a PhD student at McGill's Integrated Program in Neuroscience.

From Science Daily

"I think staff and students are potentially being thrown under a bus because of the historic mismanagement of the institution."

From BBC

Iris takes an oddball approach to acclimating her students to French: She extracts personal confessions from them in English, then writes wildly extrapolated versions of the French on index cards.

From New York Times

The issue goes to the heart not only of what students are taught but how federal and state education policies will affect the nation’s politics after one of the most consequential elections in its history.

From Los Angeles Times

It was a good day, because we sat and watched some of the students work.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• graduate
• junior
• pupil
• scholar
• undergraduate

More About Student

Where does student come from?

The word student entered English around 1350–1400. It ultimately derives from the Latin studēre. The meaning of this verb is one we think will resonate with a lot of actual students out there: “to take pains.” No, we’re not making this up: a student, etymologically speaking, can be understood a “pains-taker”!

In Latin, studēre had many other senses, though, and ones that some students may have a harder time relating to. Studēre could also mean “to desire, be eager for, be enthusiastic about, busy oneself with, apply oneself to, be diligent, pursue, study.” The underlying idea of student, then, is about striving—for new knowledge and abilities. It’s about that mix of hard work and passion. Isn’t that inspirational?

Dig deeper

We don’t think you have to be a student of etymology to make the connection between student and study. Like student, the verb study also comes from the Latin studēre. The noun study—as in The scientists conducted a sleep study or Her favorite room of her house is the study—is also related to studēre and is more immediately derived from the Latin noun studium, meaning “zeal, inclination,” among other senses.

 

But not all connections between words are so obvious. Consider student and tweezers. Would you have guessed this unlikely pair of words share a common root? Let’s, um, pick this apart.

Tweezers are small pincers or nippers for plucking our hairs, extracting splinters, picking up small objects, and so forth. The word entered English in the mid-1600s, based on tweeze, an obsolete noun meaning “case of surgical instruments,” which contained what we now call tweezers.

Losing its initial E along the way, tweeze comes from etweese, which is an English rendering of the French etui, a type of small case used to hold needles, cosmetic instruments, and the like. Etui can ultimately be traced back to the Latin stūdiāre, “to treat with care,” related to the same studēre. This is how student is related to, of all things, tweezers.

Did you know ... ?

For further study, explore the following words that share a root with student: 

• étude
• studio
• studious