Phrase guide

eeny, meeny, miny, moe

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˌini ˌmini ˌmaɪni ˈmoʊ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A method of choosing between two or more people or things, used by children. A child points to each item in turn (or alternately), while saying a rhyme starting "Eeny, meeny, miney, moe", moving to the next item after each word. The item pointed to on the last word of the rhyme is the one chosen.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Qualifier: playground games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Compare Dutch iene miene mutte, German ene mene mu.

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: rrumbullak strumbullak — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Albanian: e treta e vërteta — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Arabic: حكرة بكرة — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Bulgarian: а́ла ба́ла ни́ца ту́рска пани́ца, ой ги́ди Ва́нчо наш капита́нчо (ála bála níca túrska paníca, oj gídi Vánčo naš kapitánčo) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Cebuano: butikaw, butikaw, ikaw — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Chinese Cantonese: 點指兵兵 /点指兵兵 (dim2 zi2 bing1 bing1) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Chinese Cantonese: 點指兵兵 — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Chinese Cantonese: 點著誰人做大兵 /点指兵兵 — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Chinese Cantonese: 点着谁人做大兵 (dim2 zi2 bing1 bing1, dim2 zoek6 seoi4 jan4 zou6 daai6 bing1) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 你拍一,我拍一,一隻小貓坐飛機 /你拍一 — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 我拍一 — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 一只小猫坐飞机 (nǐ pāiyī, wǒ pāiyī, yī zhī xiǎomāo zuò fēijī) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Danish: ælle bælle mig fortælle — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Dutch: iene miene mutte — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Finnish: entten-tentten-teelika-mentten — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • French: ams tram gram — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • German: ene mene miste — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • German: ene mene mu — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Greek: α μπε μπα μπλομ (a be ba blom) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Hebrew: אן דן דינו — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Hindi: अक्कड़ बक्कड़ बम्बे बो (akkaṛ bakkaṛ bambe bo) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Hindi: ईना मीना डीका (īnā mīnā ḍīkā) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Icelandic: úllen dúllen doff — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Indonesian: cap cip cup kembang kuncup, kuda lari kejepit pintu — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Italian: ambarabà ciccì coccò — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Italian: (Liguria) igne migne magna mo — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Japanese: どちらにしようかな (dochira ni shiyō kana) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Norwegian: elle melle deg fortelle — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Norwegian: akka bakka bonka rakka — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Norwegian: enike penike — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Persian: آن مان نواران — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Polish: entliczek pentliczek czerwony stoliczek na kogo wypadnie na tego bec — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Polish: ene due rike fake — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Portuguese: uni-duni-tê — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Romanian: an-tan-te — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Romanian: ala-bala portocala — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Russian: э́ники бе́ники (éniki béniki) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Russian: э́ни бе́ни (éni béni) — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Spanish: detín dedón, marín pingüé, cucara macara, piquere fue — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Spanish: una, dole, tele, catole — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Spanish: pito, pito, gorgorito — similar children's counting-out games in other languages
  • Swedish: ole, dole, doff — similar children's counting-out games in other languages