'pupil' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'pupillus', where 'pupillus' meant 'minor, orphan' and is a diminutive of 'pupus' meaning 'boy'.

'pupil' changed from Old French 'pupille' and Middle English 'pupill' and eventually became the modern English word 'pupil'.

Initially it meant 'a minor or ward' in Latin, and over time one sense developed into 'a student' while separately the word came to denote the 'small central opening of the eye' (the modern anatomical sense).