"This Little Piggy" or "This Little Pig" is an

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

and

fingerplay Fingerplay, commonly seen in early childhood, is hand action or movement combined with singing or spoken-words to engage the child's interest. According to Erikson, many children develop autonomy and "want to learn and imitate the activities and ...

. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

number of 19297.

Lyrics

One popular version is:

Fingerplay

The rhyme is usually counted out on an

infant An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

toddler A toddler is a child approximately 12 to 36 months old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "to toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, like a child ...

toes Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plant ...

, each line corresponding to a different

toe Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plant ...

, usually starting with the

big toe Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plant ...

and ending with the

little toe Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plant ...

. A foot tickle is added during the "Wee...all the way home" section of the last line. The rhyme can also be seen as a

counting rhyme A counting-out game or counting-out rhyme is a simple method of 'randomly' selecting a person from a group, often used by children for the purpose of playing another game. It usually requires no materials, and is achieved with spoken words or hand ...

, although the number of each toe (from one for the big toe to five for the little toe) is never stated.

Origins

In 1728, the first line of the rhyme appeared in a medley called "The Nurses Song". The first known full version was recorded in ''The Famous Tommy Thumb's Little Story-Book'', published in London about 1760. In this book, the rhyme goes: This pig went to market, That pig stayed home; This pig had roast meat, That pig had none; This pig went to the barn's door, And cried week, week for more. The full rhyme continued to appear, with slight variations, in many late 18th- and early 19th-century collections. Until the mid-20th century, the lines referred to "little pigs".

Reception

It was the eighth most popular nursery rhyme in a 2009 survey in the United Kingdom. PotterCecily8

The rhyme was included in Beatrix Potter's illustrated book ''

Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes ''Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and published by Frederick Warne & Co. in December 1922. The book is a compilation of traditional English nursery rhymes such as "Goosey Goosey G ...

'' in 1922. The only known full set of her four original watercolour illustrations of the rhyme sold for £60,000 in 2012.

References

{{Authority control Fictional pigs Songs about pigs English folk songs English children's songs Traditional children's songs Finger plays English nursery rhymes Year of song unknown Songwriter unknown Pigs in literature

Lyrics

Fingerplay

Origins

Reception

See also

References