student
Americannoun
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a person formally engaged in learning, especially one enrolled in a school or college; pupil.
a student at Yale.
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any person who studies, investigates, or examines thoughtfully.
a student of human nature.
noun
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a person following a course of study, as in a school, college, university, etc
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( as modifier )
student teacher
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a person who makes a thorough study of a subject
Pronunciation
See new.
Usage
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.
Synonym Usage
See pupil 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of student
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin student- (stem of studēns ), present participle of studēre “to take pains”; see -ent; replacing Middle English studiant, aphetic variant of estudiant, from Old French, noun use of present participle of estudier “to devote oneself to, study” ( see study
Compare meaning
How does student compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
If you teach your best friend how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on the harmonica, then you can call her your student. A student is someone who's learning to do something or who attends a school. At school, there are students and teachers: the job of the teachers is to instruct the students in various subjects and the students' job is to learn. If you start school as a kindergartner and attend college and graduate school, it's possible that you may be a student for more than 20 years! Even after you finish school, you may still be a student, if you take swimming classes or learn to speak German in your spare time.
Vocabulary lists containing student
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ten secondary schools were closed earlier in the year when teachers arrived to take up posts to discover not one single student, local media reported.
From BBC • Jul. 4, 2026
Once there is a graduating class, a student who starts a company and works on it full-time after graduation is eligible for a $200,000 investment from Forge.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 4, 2026
Lexi Minetree stars as Elle Woods in Prime Video’s series that revisits the ‘Legally Blonde’ protagonist as a 16-year-old high school student.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2026
Despite the barriers, student Zhang Tengfei remains optimistic.
From Barron's • Jul. 2, 2026
Only thing worse than being a new student is being a new student with a weird haircut given to you by an old lady in slippers.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
