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Glite Dictionary
eeny

eeny

8 9.8
A word children say at the start of the counting rhyme to choose someone
  • adjective
  • /ˈiːni/
  • Baby Talk
: eeny
  • To choose a player for the game, we started with an eeny, meeny, miny, moe chant.
  • eeny-weeny

Examples

  • For a moment, he could think of nothing but "It's a teensy-tiny, eeny-weeny cosmos..." repeating endlessly through his mind as a teeny-tiny universe of stars flashed before his eyes.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • From every direction came the endless, repeating "It's a teensy-tiny, eeny-weeny cosmos."

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The children laughed as they recited 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' to select who would go first.

  • When deciding who would sit in the front seat, we played 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' to pick randomly.

Surface Forms

eeny positive

Etymology

Eeny comes from the children's counting rhyme eeny, meeny, miny, moe and is a playful, nonsense word that people say to start a fair choice 'by chance'.