Lyrics
Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, The mouse ran down, Hickory, dickory, dock.
#Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck two, And down he flew, Hickory, dickory, dock.
#Hickory Dickory Dock at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Sung in
- English
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- May 1744
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- playful, traditional, counting
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
How to sing it
- Run two fingers up the other arm as the mouse climbs the clock.
- Clap or nod once for each stroke as the clock strikes the hour.
- Run your fingers back down again as the mouse escapes.
- Add a verse for each new hour — two, three, four — and let the children call out the number.
Meaning and origin
Under the nonsense, this is a clock and a mouse and not much else — which is exactly the right amount of story for a very small child. The mouse runs up, the clock strikes, the mouse runs down, and the whole thing resets, ready to be done again with the hands as much as the voice.
It is old: the earliest known version is in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book of May 1744, where it starts “Hickere, Dickere Dock”. That makes it a near contemporary of “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”, and one of the oldest rhymes English children still sing.
The tumbling opening words may be more than noise. Some scholars think the rhyme began as a counting-out chant, and point to old shepherds’ numbers from Westmorland — hevera, devera, dick for eight, nine and ten — drawn from the Cumbric language once spoken in north-west England. There is even a clock to attach it to: the astronomical clock at Exeter Cathedral, with a small hole cut in its door, by tradition, so the resident cat could get in to hunt the mice.
Common questions
- How old is "Hickory Dickory Dock"?
- The earliest known version is in "Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book", published in London in May 1744, where it begins "Hickere, Dickere Dock". It is one of the oldest surviving English nursery rhymes.
- What do the words "hickory dickory dock" mean?
- They are mostly playful nonsense, but they may come from counting. Some commentators link them to counting-out rhymes, and to the numbers "hevera" (8), "devera" (9) and "dick" (10) once used by shepherds in Westmorland, which come from the old Cumbric language.
- Is "Hickory Dickory Dock" based on a real clock?
- One tradition connects it to the astronomical clock at Exeter Cathedral, which has a small hole in the door beneath the face — said to have been cut for the cathedral cat to hunt mice.
- How do you make "Hickory Dickory Dock" last longer?
- Add a verse for each hour the clock strikes: the mouse runs up, the clock strikes two (or three, or four), and down he flies again. It doubles nicely as a gentle counting game.
