patty-cake

noun

pat·​ty-cake ˈpa-tē-ˌkāk 

variants or pat-a-cake

ˈpa-də-ˌkāk 

ˈpat-ə-

: a game in which two participants (such as mother and child) clap their hands together to the rhythm of an accompanying nursery rhyme

Word History

Etymology

from the opening words of the rhyme

First Known Use

1889, in the meaning defined above