A meeple is the playing piece or token in a board game, usually having an extremely stylized human form. The word meeple comes from blending the words my and people. A word consisting of blended words is called a portmanteau. Meeple was coined in the year 2000 by Alison Hansel to describe the wooden figures in the game Carcassonne. Since the year 2000, the term meeple has spread to describe the token in any board game, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015. The plural form of meeple may be rendered as meeple or meeples.
Examples
To start the game each player receives 25 influence markers, $5 and a scoring meeple. (The Deseret News)
As a board game, Carcassone made famous the meeple, won the industry’s highest honor, and proved to the world that even in a game where direct competition is extraordinarily difficult, your friends will still find a way to act like jerks. (Popular Mechanics Magazine)
In a podcast, London reviewer Tyler Anderson of the website Bearded Meeple zeroed in on the game’s wacky illustrations and the designer’s attention to detail. (The London Free Press)
Plans for the venue, tentatively called Meeple Cafe, are still in the very early stages and the business partners don’t yet have a location. (The Sacramento Business Journal)
Previously known as Rampage, Terror in Meeple City is a game of smashing things. (The Guardian)
For the uninitiated, “meeple” is short for “my people” and refers to the figures in the game Carcassonne. (Las Vegas Weekly)
The Leveller is a really interesting book surrounding hacks, codes, Meeple and, of course, video game action. (USA Today)