humpty dumpty
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.26 in modern English
30
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A nursery rhyme character who falls from a wall and breaks irreparably in the manner of an egg; (figurative) by extension, anything similarly fragile, irreparably damaged, or insecure, precariously at risk of such irreparable damage.
Example Sentences
- "... she sits perched high up, astride a man's saddle, looking in her balloon garments, and doubtless feeling, more insecure than Humpty Dumpty on the wall."
- "For many people, traditional Christian theology is a Humpty-Dumpty: it has tumbled from its perch and can't be put together again."
Etymology
Possibly baby talk forms of Humphrey, since Dump and Dumphrey have been recorded as pet forms of this given name. Various suggestions have been offered for the original meaning of the nursery rhyme, chiefly concerning the English Civil War, although none has received general acceptance- modern scholars believe it may have been intended to be a riddle, with the answer of "an egg".