LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

pūpilla

pūpilla f (genitive pūpillae)
Classical[puːˈpɪl.la]Ecclesiastical[puˈpil.la]

Meaning

  1. an underage orphan, female ward
  2. the pupil of the eye

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativepūpillapūpillae
genitivepūpillaepūpillārum
dativepūpillaepūpillīs
accusativepūpillampūpillās
ablativepūpillāpūpillīs
vocativepūpillapūpillae

pūpilla (in the Tab. Heracl. lin. 4 and 5 abbrev. VP., i. e. PV. reversed, like O for Gaia and q for puella), ae, f. dim. pupa.
I. An orphan girl, a ward, minor, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 50, § 131; 2, 1, 58, § 153 et saep.—
II. The pupil of the eye, Lucr. 4, 249; Plin. 11, 37, 55, § 148; 7, 2, 2, § 16; Vulg. Deut. 32, 10 (in Cic. N. D. 2, 57, 142, the true read. is pupula, as in App. 10, p. 255, 5).—
B. Transf., in gen., the eye, App. M. 3, p. 138, 39.

Origins

Diminutive of pūpula, itself a diminutive of pūpa, equivalent to pūpa + -illa. The transferred anatomical meaning is part of a strong cross-linguistic tendency, in reference to the small reflected image of oneself seen when looking into someone's eye.

Descendants
  • Catalanpupil·la
  • Englishpupil
  • Frenchpupille
  • Italianpupilla
  • Portuguesepupila
  • Spanishpupila
  • Sicilianpupiḍḍa

In English words that came into English from pūpilla

  • pupilpūpilla

Quick answers

What does pūpilla mean in Latin?
pūpilla, a noun, means “an underage orphan, female ward; the pupil of the eye”.
What is the genitive of pūpilla?
The genitive singular is pūpillae. pūpilla is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce pūpilla?
In classical Latin, [puːˈpɪl.la]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [puˈpil.la].