The word for today is…
sophomore (noun):
: a student in the second year at college or a 4-year secondary school
Source : Online Etymology Dictionary
Etymology : 1680s, “student in the second year of university study,” literally “arguer,” altered from sophumer (1650s), from sophume, an archaic variant form of sophism, ultimately from Greek sophistes “a master of one’s craft; a wise or prudent man, one clever in matters of daily life.”
The modern form probably is by folk etymology derivation from Greek sophos “wise” + moros “foolish, dull”
The original reference of the “arguer” name might be to the dialectic exercises that formed a large part of education in the middle years. At Oxford and Cambridge, a sophister (from sophist with spurious -er as in philosopher) was a second- or third-year student (what Americans would call a “junior” might be a senior sophister).
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