Humpty Dumpty

American  

[huhmp-tee duhmp-tee] / ˈhʌmp ti ˈdʌmp ti /

noun

1. an egg-shaped character in a Mother Goose nursery rhyme that fell off a wall and could not be put together again.

2. (sometimes lowercase) something that has been damaged severely and usually irreparably.

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humpty dumpty British  

/ ˈhʌmptɪ ˈdʌmptɪ /

noun

1. a short fat person

2. a person or thing that once overthrown or broken cannot be restored or mended

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“Humpty Dumpty” Cultural  

1. A nursery rhyme:

   Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;

   Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

   All the king's horses and all the king's men

   Couldn't put Humpty together again.

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Etymology

Origin of Humpty Dumpty

Rhyming compound based on humpty; hump, -ed ³, -y ²

Example Sentences

In 1871 Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty told Alice: “When I use a word, it means whatever I choose it to mean.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 15, 2025

Humpty Dumpty is often depicted as an anthropomorphic egg that falls off a wall and breaks, with all the King's horses and men being unable to put him together again.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2024

Humpty Dumpty is an apt analogy here: It’s easier to prevent his great fall than to put him together again after he’s broken.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2023

He’s accompanied by his wife, Monique Ortiz-Arndt, in a peasant dress operatically singing the part of Humpty Dumpty atop a ladder.

From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2022

We are like Humpty Dumpty and all these king’s horses and all these king’s men cannot put us back together again.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman