Pupillarity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state related to the pupil of the eye; concerning the appearance, size, or function of the eye's central opening; a characteristic involving the optical duct through which light enters vision
2. Pertaining to the condition or features of the eye's pupil; involving physiological or anatomical aspects of the eye's aperture; describing attributes linked to the light-regulating opening in the eye
3. Relating to the pupil as part of eye anatomy; referring to the behavior or characteristics of the pupil's diameter and response; denoting qualities associated with the central circular opening controlling light intake in the eye

Etymology: "Pupillarity" is a learned formation from Latin "pupilla," the diminutive of "pupa" (girl, doll), so the eye's pupil was named for the tiny reflected figure you see in another person's eye. The Latin word carried that sense of a little doll or small image, which is why the same term also came to mean a ward, a minor under a guardian, since a child under guardianship is a "pupillus" in legal Latin. The noun itself was borrowed from Medieval Latin "pūpillāritās," a form built on the adjective "pupillaris," which the Medieval Latin writers used for matters concerning wards or minors. English took the word for the abstract quality of being a pupil or of relating to the eye's pupil. Its anatomical use is the older sense that the word inherits from Latin, while the legal sense of guardianship is attached to the same root.

Synonyms: pupil size, pupil dilation