What exactly is a 生徒?


The word 生徒(せいと) means "pupil", but what exactly is/was a 生徒 in Japanese
culture? And how is a 生徒 different from a 学生? And in what context would you
use the word?




According to my Japanese dictionary, 広辞林, the two words are defined as
follows:

  * 生徒 -- refers to a student receiving an education from a fixed location such as in middle or high school or from under a tutor etc. 

> 中高等大学校または家塾その他、一定の場所で教育を受ける人。

  * 学生 -- refers to a someone who attends classes, but in particular someone who studies at university. 

> 学業をおさめるもの。特に、大学に学ぶ者。大学生。

From this it seems that 学生 is the more general term covering a wider range of
students including those in the category of 生徒. As @naruto pointed out in the
comments, 学生 isn't quite as general as those definitions might leave one to
think (now I'm a bit disappointed in my dictionary). Apparently, 生徒 is the
more appropriate terms for a student taking a culinary class, or swimming
lessons, or studying martial arts, and I would therefor imagine a number of
other things.




I would say that 学生 strongly implies that it is a pupil in a school, while 生徒
is simply a "pupil", someone who learns from someone.

There are many terms for students depending on the situation (school, martial
arts, beginner, expert, etc.), but pupil really feels suitable for them all.

