Lyrics
This little piggy went to market, This little piggy stayed home, This little piggy had roast beef, This little piggy had none, But this little piggy cried wee, wee, wee, All the way home.
#This Little Piggy at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Sung in
- English
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- first line 1728; full version c. 1760
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- playful, traditional, counting
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
How to sing it
- Take one of the baby's toes for each line, starting with the big toe.
- Wiggle each toe gently as you name its little pig.
- On "wee, wee, wee, all the way home", run your fingers up from the foot to tickle the tummy.
Meaning and origin
This is barely a song at all — it is a game played on a baby’s foot. Each little pig is one of the child’s toes, taken in turn between finger and thumb: one goes to market, one stays home, one feasts, one goes without, and the smallest runs squealing all the way home, at which point a grown-up’s fingers usually run up the leg to a tickle. The words matter far less than the touch and the giggle.
It is old for such a simple thing. The first line was already circulating in 1728, in a piece called “The Nurses Song”, and the full rhyme appears by about 1760. For most of its life the creatures were “little pigs”; the softer “piggy” is a relatively modern touch. In a 2009 British survey it was still among the best-loved nursery rhymes.
Its endurance is really the endurance of the game. A rhyme you play on a baby’s toes, ending in laughter, needs no meaning and no melody to survive — only a foot and a willing grown-up, which every generation reliably provides.
Common questions
- How do you play "This Little Piggy"?
- It is a toe-counting game for babies and toddlers. You take one of the child's toes for each line — this little piggy went to market, this one stayed home — and on the last line, "wee, wee, wee, all the way home", you run your fingers up to a tickle. It is really a rhyme for the hands and the giggles more than the ears.
- How old is "This Little Piggy"?
- The first line was already in print in 1728, in a medley called "The Nurses Song", and the full version appears in "The Famous Tommy Thumb's Little Story-Book" of about 1760. For a long time the lines said "little pigs" rather than "piggy".
- Why pigs and toes?
- There is no deeper reason — it simply pairs five little pigs, each with a different fate, to a baby's five toes, ending with the smallest one squealing all the way home. The counting and the tickle are the whole game.
