stu|dent

stu|dent «STOO duhnt, STYOO-», noun.

1. a person who studies: »

a student of human nature. She is a student of birds.

2. a person who is studying at a school, college, or university: »

That high school has 3,000 students. A student is a person who is learning to fulfill his powers and to find ways of using them in the service of mankind (Harold Taylor).

╂[< Latin studēns, -entis, present participle of studēre apply oneself to learning; (originally) be eager]

Synonym Study 1, 2 Student, pupil, scholar mean a person who is studying or being taught. Student, emphasizing the idea of studying, applies to anyone who loves to study, but especially to someone attending a higher school, college, or university: »

Several high-school students were there.

Pupil, emphasizing personal supervision by a teacher, applies to a child in school or someone studying privately with a teacher: »

He is a pupil in the third grade. My aunt is a pupil of an opera singer.

Scholar now applies chiefly to a learned person who is an authority in some field or to a student who has a scholarship: »

He is a distinguished classical scholar.