
Aunque peones representando personas los ha habido en los juegos desde hace siglos, el término se introdujo (anónimamente) en el vocabulario lúdico con el juego Carcassonne de Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, originalmente publicado de acertadísima forma por la editora alemana Hans im Glück en el año 2000.


Desde entonces la palabra se ha popularizado y su uso se ha extendido por todo el mundo lúdico, también en países de habla no inglesa.
Tanto es así que "meeple" se ha inlcuido en la reciente revisión de Oxford Dictionaries:
Pronunciation: /ˈmiːp(ə)l/Definition of meeple in English:- noun (plural same or meeples)- A small figure used as a playing piece in certain board games, having a stylized human form.- Example sentences:
- "each player is given eight wooden meeples"
- "you can’t move a meeple over a bridge unless a meeple is on the bridge"
- "at least two big meeple were stuck in that city for almost the entire game"
- "You can place a tile, and then a meeple, so that you get in on his hard earned points just at the last second"
- "While you can't place a meeple onto a city (or road) already claimed by another player, you can place a tile that links two claimed areas together"
- "You don't get your lounging meeple back until the end of the game, when you get 3 points for every completed city connected by grassland to him"
- Origin: Early 21st century: apparently a blend of "my" and a phonetic respelling of "people" and first used with reference to the board game Carcassonne.
El diccionario no recoge el origen del término, atribuido a la jugadora Allison Handel a finales de 2000.
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