This Little Piggy

8.4

A traditional English children's rhyme that counts toes while a parent wiggles them

noun

Baby Talk

: Este cerdito

The toddler giggled as his father played This Little Piggy with his toes.

Examples

Every night, Grandma would recite This Little Piggy to the children before bedtime.
She memorized This Little Piggy and proudly performed it at school.
My favorite nursery rhyme is This Little Piggy.
Did you ever hear This Little Piggy?
Every night, Grandma would recite This Little Piggy to the children before bedtime.
The toddler giggled as his father played This Little Piggy with his toes.
She memorized This Little Piggy and proudly performed it at school.

Surface Forms

This Little Piggy singular

This Little Piggies plural

Morphology

this + little + piggy

Although the constituents 'this', 'little', and 'piggy' are individually transparent, the string 'This Little Piggy' functions as the conventional title of a specific nursery rhyme (the toe-counting rhyme). A B1 learner who knows the words would likely interpret the phrase literally as referring to a small pig rather than as the name and content of the rhyme, so knowing the parts does not yield the MWE meaning without cultural exposure.

Etymology

This Little Piggy is a traditional counting nursery rhyme where each little 'piggy' is really one of a child's toes and lines like 'This little piggy went to market' tell a tiny story for each toe. That's why adults touch or tickle each toe while saying it, so the rhyme is used to count and play with a child's 'toes'.