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 Word Forms

• studentless adjective
• studentlike adjective
• antistudent noun
• nonstudent 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

Church officials say it could be ready to accept new students in time for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"Compared to my grandparents, it's easy for us now," said one Laotian master's student in Australia.

Read more on Barron's

The sales-account executive is paying rent for the first time and student loans, which together eat up $2,400 each month.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Genuine liberal arts learning requires students to wrestle with the best that has been written and said by the most rigorous thinkers, living and dead, on all sides of the issues.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

University faculty and academic observers note that while students have a constitutional right to express personal beliefs, instructors have the authority to assess assignments on their academic merit.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• graduate 
• junior 
• pupil 
• scholar 
• undergraduate 

When To Use

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 deeperWe 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.