puellus

Latin

Etymology

Contracted from puerulus (“a little boy, a little slave”), the diminutive of puer (“boy”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /puˈel.lus/, [puˈɛlːʲʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /puˈel.lus/, [puˈɛlːus]

Noun

puellus m (genitive puellī, feminine puella); second declension

1. a young boy, a little boy
2. (in erotic context) catamite

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	puellus	puellī
genitive	puellī	puellōrum
dative	puellō	puellīs
accusative	puellum	puellōs
ablative	puellō	puellīs
vocative	puelle	puellī

Synonyms

• puer
• puerulus
• pūsus
• putus

References

• “puellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• puellus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.