Four Legs in the Morning
It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening. What is it?
Man (or woman). A baby crawls on all fours, then walks on two legs as an adult and uses two legs and a cane when they’re old.
Posted in Riddles
46 Comments on "Four Legs in the Morning"
Dean says
February 2, 2017 @ 09:43
Human being
xavier anderson says
March 18, 2017 @ 22:31
the answer is man
Susan Johann says
March 26, 2017 @ 00:38
I’m a human and I’m on two legs at all times of the day. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s not lame.
janiya says
April 19, 2017 @ 12:51
i no that from pus and boots from the sfixs
Daron reid says
June 26, 2017 @ 16:57
The answer is human being
Rockett says
July 7, 2017 @ 23:34
Its metaphorical now.
Its kind of a stretch in modern english.
Its clever qualities are kind of lost to translation.
Dawn and twilight refer metaphorically to periods of life now but in the past the words for morning noon and evening were sometimes literally the words that referred to stages of life.
Most of the words would have had double meanings in ancient greek or latin. I wont waste time going through all the iterations of this riddle but i think translating it to what “goes” rather than what “walks” is the more accurate version.
Here are just some of the double meanings that would have made this more clever in the past.
Mane= morning, early, early on
go,walk, run are often the same word
ancient greek for leg can also mean any piece of a group of identical pieces
(probably why earlier versions make it a point to say this thing also has a voice since this could be taken to mean wheels)
I’d compare it to “What has a head and tail and no legs?” = a coin.
Heads and tails when referring to a coin is somewhat restricted in both time period and language. The double meaning is apparent to us but would make little sense in many other languages, until the person knows the answer and could then say ” I guess I could see how a head and tail could be talking about a coin”
Rockett says
July 8, 2017 @ 00:17
Additionally, the words for morning, noon, and evening would have literally referred to any beginning, middle and end.
So, in the past it would have been something more like:
What has a voice, goes on four parts in the beginning, two parts in the middle and three parts at the end.
If the word for parts also meant legs, beginning middle and end inferred time of day but didn’t necessarily mean time of day and old people commonly used canes colloquially referred to as “third legs”
Jose T says
July 4, 2019 @ 13:09
The morning, afternoon, and evening refer to your lifespan. When you were a baby (morning) you crawled on all fours, in the middle of your life (afternoon) you walk on just 2 legs and when you’re old (evening) you walk with a cane aka the 3rd leg.
Rafe Mohammad says
March 24, 2020 @ 12:59
The answer is a human because I watched a movie that says the riddle and the answer so the answer is a human because the morning is the start of your lifespan when you are a baby you crawl when you are able to walk without a walking stick, you have two legs and the afternoon is when you are elderly and you need a walking stick which adds up to three legs
Cadi says
March 26, 2020 @ 16:17
I don’t know, but I trapped it in my bedroom. Send help.
Bingo says
April 3, 2020 @ 21:05
Its not a human. It is a journey with (4) legs. When first starting out (young) there are (4) legs to go. When halfway there, there are (2) legs to go. When nearly there (old), (3) legs have been completed.
... says
May 31, 2020 @ 18:59
humans do not walk on 4 legs in the morning, 2 at noon and 3 in the evening. dumb riddle…
Ayo people says
June 10, 2020 @ 14:24
It is a flippin’ human. The time given here refers to the stages of life, childhood, adulthood and elderly ages. The one with 181 IQ, dude how did you even think that much..?! I guess you put an extra 1 at the end.
William says
November 3, 2020 @ 18:35
I figured it had something to do with shadows…. But with the three in the evening my mind went to a naughty place involving men…. In the evening…. But then, I thought, the morning is more likely to have 3 waking up with morning timber….
Billby says
July 7, 2023 @ 11:52
I love how people who have just heard or read the answer just spout it off like they’re actually answering the question themselves. I’m sure they are thinking that people will be looking at their answer & thinking “wow that guy must be an absolute genius” not realizing they are proving the exact opposite.
As others have said, in ancient times or modern no human has ever had 4 legs at any time of the day either metaphorically or otherwise unless anything at all can be called a leg? If so it’s just so much nonsense anyway.
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