Besedilo (Lyrics)
Celotno besedilo pesmi »Ekate, pekate, cukate me« z angleškim prevodom.
Ekate, pekate, cukate me, Fibe, fabe, domine, Ektum, pektum, kufer štuc, Kvinto, kvanto, finger puc.
#English translation
Ekate, pekate, cukate me, fibe, fabe, domine, ektum, pektum, suitcase stub, kvinto, kvanto, finger wipe. (mostly playful nonsense syllables, chanted for the rhythm)
#Ekate, pekate, cukate me at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
- Sung in
- Slovenian
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- traditional counting-out rhyme; author unknown
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- playful, traditional
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
How to sing it
- Stand in a circle and point to a different child on each word or syllable.
- Chant it briskly, right around the ring.
- Whoever the last word lands on is "it" (or is out) — then play the game.
Meaning and origin
This is a Slovenian counting-out rhyme — an izštevanka — and it is almost pure sound. Children chant it while pointing around a circle, one child per beat, and whoever the last word falls on is chosen: to be “it”, or to be out, before a game begins. It is the Slovenian cousin of English “eeny, meeny, miny, moe”, and it does exactly the same job in exactly the same way.
Its words are mostly delightful nonsense — a few borrowed and mangled from German and elsewhere (finger puc, “finger wipe”), most invented purely for their bounce. And that is the whole point: a counting-out rhyme needs a strong, steady beat far more than it needs meaning, so the syllables are chosen to trip nicely off the tongue. No one wrote it; rhymes like this are pure playground tradition, passed from child to child and surviving in a hundred nonsense variants, useful in the one way that matters — fairly, and with a bit of ceremony, deciding who goes first.
Common questions
- What is "Ekate, pekate, cukate me"?
- A counting-out rhyme — in Slovenian, an "izštevanka". Children chant it while pointing round a circle, one person per word, and whoever the last word lands on is chosen (to be "it", or to be out). It is the Slovenian equivalent of "eeny, meeny, miny, moe".
- What do the words mean?
- Almost nothing — that's the point. They are mostly playful nonsense syllables (some borrowed and mangled from other languages), chosen for their rhythm rather than any meaning. The steady beat is what matters for counting out.
- Who wrote "Ekate, pekate, cukate me"?
- No one knows; counting-out rhymes are pure oral tradition, passed from child to child in the playground, which is why they survive in so many nonsense variations.
