# Pease Porridge Hot

“Pease Porridge Hot” is an English nursery rhyme documented in late-18th-century and 19th-century collections, contrasting hot, cold and nine-day-old porridge.

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Sung in | English |
| Words by | Traditional |
| First known | Riddle form in a circa-1785 reprint; full stanza printed in 1895 |
| Best for ages | 2–6 |
| Mood | dancing, playful, traditional |
| Page | https://littlesongbook.com/songs/pease-porridge-hot/ |

## Lyrics

### Verse 1 (en)

Pease porridge hot,
Pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot,
Nine days old.

Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot,
Nine days old.

## How to sing it

1. Begin slowly so everyone can hear the repeated words and the action cue.
2. Clap your own hands on the first beat, then a partner’s hands on the next beats, keeping the pattern slow and even.
3. Repeat the song once and invite a different child to lead the cues.

## Common questions

**What does “pease” mean in Pease Porridge Hot?**

“Pease” is an older form associated with peas. Historical printings vary: the 1895 collection used “pease-pudding,” while the familiar modern rhyme commonly uses “pease porridge.”

**Was the complete Pease Porridge Hot stanza printed in the 1700s?**

Not as the full stanza. The circa-1785 Isaiah Thomas reprint of Mother Goose’s Melody, read here in its 1889 facsimile, prints the four opening lines as a spelling riddle — “Spell me that in four letters? I will. That.” The complete hot, cold and nine-days-old stanza, with the second half about who likes it which way, is securely documented in an 1895 collection.

## Sources

- [Internet Archive — The Original Mother Goose’s Melody, 1889 facsimile of Isaiah Thomas’s circa-1785 reprint (riddle on p. 41)](https://archive.org/details/originalmothergo00newb)
- [Wikisource — A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes (1895), full stanza](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Book_of_Nursery_Songs_and_Rhymes/Pease-pudding_hot%2C_pease-pudding_cold)
- [Project Gutenberg — Mother Goose (1915), spelling-riddle variant](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24623/pg24623-images.html)
- [Merriam-Webster — pea and pease word history](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pease)