What does puer mean in Latin?

puer, a noun, means “a child; chit; a boy, lad (typically between ages 7-14 but could be younger) (older than an īnfāns but younger than an adulēscēns)”.

What is the genitive of puer?

The genitive singular is puerī. puer is masculine, second declension.

How do you pronounce puer?

In classical Latin, [ˈpu.ɛr]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈpuː.er].

Which English words come from puer?

English words that go back to Latin puer include puerpera, puerile, puerperous, putto, puerperium and puerperal.

puer, puerī, puera — meaning & declension

Meaning

masculinea child; chit
masculinea boy, lad (typically between ages 7-14 but could be younger) (older than an īnfāns but younger than an adulēscēns)
masculinea male servant or page; slave
masculinea bachelor
masculineboyhood (ex: in puero, "in his boyhood" or "as a boy")

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

homō parvus quī nōndum iuvenis est; etiam servus iuvenis ``puer'' vocātur.

puer -ī m — in Mille Verba, ch. Vīta et Mors

boy, child

puer -ī — in Viri Romae Facillimi, ch. 11

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Puer · Infans · Adolescens · Juvenis · Vir · Vetus · Senex

Puer (from parere, πάϊς,) in a wider sense, is the man in his dependent years, so long as he neither can be, nor is, the father of a family, as a young person, in three periods, as infans, νήπιος, παιδίον, from his first years till he is seven; as puer, in a narrower sense, παῖς, from his seventh year till he is sixteen; as commencing adolescens (from ἄλθειν) a youngster, μειράκιον, νεανίας, from his sixteenth year. Juvenis, in a wider sense, is as long as he remains in his years of greatest strength, from about the time of his being of age to the first appearances of advanced age, as the young man νέος, which also may be divided into three periods;—as ceasing to be adolescens, from his eighteenth year; as juvenis (from ζέω) in a narrower sense, νεανίας, from his four-and-twentieth year; as beginning to be vir, ἀνήρ, from his thirtieth year. Maturus is the man in his ripest years, when the wild fire of youth has evaporated, and may be divided into three periods;—as ceasing to be vir, ἀνήρ, from his fortieth year; as vetus, γέρων, from his fiftieth year; as senex, (ἄναξ) πρεσβύτης, from his sixtieth year. (v. 45.)

Declension

declension
form	singular	plural
nominative	puer puerculus	puerī puerculī
genitive	puerī puerculī	puerōrum puerculōrum
dative	puerō puerculō	puerīs puerculīs
accusative	puerum puerculum	puerōs puerculōs
ablative	puerō puerculō	puerīs puerculīs
vocative	puer puercule, puere	puerī puerculī

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

puer decem annorum: a boy ten years old.
ex pueris excedere: to leave one's boyhood behind one, become a man.
pueros elementa (prima) docere: to teach children the rudiments.
a puero (is), a parvo (is), a parvulo (is): from youth up.
puerum alicui erudiendum or in disciplinam tradere: to entrust a child to the tuition of...

pŭer, ĕri (old voc. puere, Plaut. As. 2, 3, 2; 5, 2, 42; id. Most. 4, 2, 32 et saep.; Caecil. and Afran. ap. Prisc. p. 697 P.;

I. gen. plur. puerūm, Plaut. Truc. 4, 2, 50), m. (v. infra) [root pu-, to beget; v. pudes; and cf. pupa, putus], orig. a child, whether boy or girl: pueri appellatione etiam puella significatur, Dig. 50, 16, 163.—Thus, as fem.: sancta puer Saturni filia, regina, Liv. And. ap. Prisc. p. 697 P.: prima incedit Cereris Proserpina puer, i.e. daughter of Ceres, Naev. ib. p. 697 P.: mea puer, mea puer, Poët. ap. Charis. p. 64 P.; Ael. Stil. and As. ib. p. 64 P.—Hence, freq. in the plur. pueri, children, in gen., Plaut. Poen. prol. 28; 30: infantium puerorum incunabula, Cic. Rosc. Am. 53, 153: cinis eorum pueros tarde dentientes adjuvat cum melle, Plin. 30, 3, 8, § 22; Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 7; id. C. 4, 9, 24.—

II. In partic.

1. A male child, a boy, lad, young man (strictly till the seventeenth year, but freq. applied to those who are much older): puero isti date mammam, Plaut. Truc. 2, 5, 1: aliquam puero nutricem para, Ter. Hec. 4, 4, 104; 5, 2, 4: homini ilico lacrimae cadunt Quasi puero, id. Ad. 4, 1, 21: quo portas puerum? id. And. 4, 3, 7: nescire quid antea quam natus sis, acciderit, id est semper esse puerum, Cic. Or. 34, 120; Ov. P. 4, 12, 20: laudator temporis acti Se puero, when he was a boy, Hor. A. P. 173; cf.: foeminae praetextatique pueri et puellae, Suet. Claud. 35.—A puero, and with plur. verb, a pueris (cf. Gr. ἐκ παιδός, ἐκ παίδων), from a boy, boyhood, or childhood (cf. ab): doctum hominem cognovi, idque a puero, Cic. Fam. 13, 16, 4; id. Ac. 2, 3, 8: diligentiā matris a puero doctus, id. Brut. 27, 104; Hor S. 1, 4, 97: ad eas artes, quibus a pueris dediti fuimus, Cic. de Or. 1, 1, 2.—In like manner: ut primum ex pueris excessit Archias, as soon as he ceased to be a child, Cic. Arch. 3, 4.—

2. A grown-up youth, young man, Cic. Fam. 2, 1, 2: puer egregius praesidium sibi primum et nobis, deinde summae rei publicae comparavit, of Octavian at the age of nineteen, id. ib. 12, 25, 4 (cf. Vell. 2, 61, 1; Tac. A. 13, 6); cf. of the same: nomen clarissimi adulescentis vel pueri potius, Cic. Phil. 4, 1, 3; of Scipio Africanus, at the age of twenty, Sil. 15, 33; 44 (coupled with juvenis, id. 15, 10 and 18); of Pallas, in military command, Verg. A. 11, 42.—

3. An unmarried man, a bachelor, Ov. F. 4, 226.—

4. As a pet name, or in familiar address, boy, fellow, Cat. 12, 9; Ter. Ad. 5, 8, 17.—

B. Transf.

1. A little son, a son (poet.), Plaut. Am. 5, 1, 72: Ascanius puer, Verg. A. 2, 598: tuque (Venus) puerque tuus (Cupido), id. ib. 4, 94; cf. Hor. C. 1, 32, 10: Latonae puer, id. ib. 4, 6, 37: Semeles puer, id. ib. 1, 19, 2: deorum pueri, id. A. P. 83; 185.—

2. A boy for attendance, a servant, slave: cedo aquam manibus, puer, Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 150; Cic. Rosc. Am. 28, 77: Persicos odi, puer, apparatus, Hor. C. 1, 38, 1; 2, 11, 18; 4, 11, 10: hic vivum mihi cespitem ponite, pueri, id. ib. 1, 19, 14: cena ministratur pueris tribus, id. S. 1, 6, 116: tum pueri nautis, pueris convicia nautae Ingerere, id. ib. 1, 5, 11: regii, royal pages, Liv. 45, 6; Curt. 5, 2, 13: litteratissimi, Nep. Att. 13, 3; Juv. 11, 59; Dig. 50, 16, 204.—*

3. As adj., youthful: puera facies, Paul. Nol. Carm. 25, 217.

Origins

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w-der. Proto-Indo-European *ph₂weros Proto-Italic *puweros Latin puer From Proto-Italic *puweros, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂weros, from *peh₂w-. Cognate with Oscan 𐌐𐌖𐌂𐌋𐌖𐌌 (puglum), Ancient Greek παῖς (paîs, “boy”).

Descendants

Englishpuer
Englishpuer aeternus
Englishpuerile
Englishpuerilism
Englishpuerperium
Englishpuerility
Englishpuerperal
Englishpuerperous
Romanianprunc
Idopuero

In English words that came into English from puer

puerperapuerpera
puerilepuerīlis
puttoputus
puerperiumpuerperium
puerperalpuerperālis
puerilitypuerīlitās
puellilepuella
puerperouspuerpera
puellinepuella