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

Back in 1842, the now defunct Punch magazine alluded to Humpty Dumpty being based on Wolsey, who was once Henry VIII's chief adviser before being suspected of treason.

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

She took down Through the Looking Glass and found Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg