The English lyrics were first written as a poem by Jane Taylor (1783–1824) and published with the title "The Star" in Rhymes for the Nursery by Jane and her sister Ann Taylor (1782–1866) in London in 1806:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When this blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, through the night.

Then the traveller in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark;
He could not see where to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

The lyrics from "The Star" were first published with the tune in The Singing Master: First Class Tune Book in 1838. Although before, when it was just a folk song, there were only 4 verses

Additional variations exist such as from 1896 in Song Stories for the Kindergarten^[6] by Mildred J. Hill.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How we wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the glorious sun has set,
And the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

When the golden sun doth rise,
Fills with shining light the skies,
Then you fade away from sight,
Shine no more 'till comes the night.

A parody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" titled "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" was recited by the Mad Hatter in chapter seven of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.^[7]

An adaptation of the song, named "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Earth", was written by Charles Randolph Grean, Fred Hertz and Leonard Nimoy. It is included on Nimoy's first 1967 album Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space, with him reciting the text as Spock explaining how the star-people wish upon an earth and so forth.^[8]

A version using synonyms from Roget's Thesaurus exists.^[9]

The song can also be played as a singing game.

• "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman"
• Little Star (The Elegants song)
• "Alphabet song"
• "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"
• Twinkling
• Are you sleeping