Definition of 'tale'
Word forms: plural tales
1. countable noun
2. countable noun
3. See also
fairy tale,
old wives' tale,
tall tale
4.
5.
See
tell tales
6. See also
tell-tale
COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Video: pronunciation of
tale
Word Frequency
tale in British English
noun
3.
b.
(in combination)
talebearer
taleteller
4.
a
fictitious or
false statement
5.
tell tales
6.
tell a tale
9. an obsolete word for
talk
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
Old English talu list; related to Old Frisian tele talk, Old Saxon, Old Norse tala talk, number, Old High German zala number
Word Frequency
tale in American English
noun
1.
2.
b.
a
literary
composition in narrative form
3.
a piece of gossip
4.
a
falsehood; lie
6. Obsolete
the act of telling
SIMILAR WORDS: ˈstory
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
ME < OE talu, speech, number, akin to Ger zahl, number, Du taal, speech < IE base *del-, to aim, reckon, trick > Gr dolos, L dolus, guile, artifice
Example sentences including
tale
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Quotations
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tale
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In other languages
tale
British English: tale
/teɪl/ NOUN
A tale is a story, especially one involving adventure or magic.
...stories, poems and folk tales.
- American English: tale
- Arabic: حِكَايَة
- Brazilian Portuguese: conto
- Chinese: 故事
- Croatian: priča
- Czech: příběh
- Danish: fortælling
- Dutch: sprookje
- European Spanish: cuento
- Finnish: tarina
- French: récit
- German: Erzählung
- Greek: μύθος ιστορία
- Italian: storia
- Japanese: 話
- Korean: 이야기
- Norwegian: historie
- Polish: opowieść
- European Portuguese: conto
- Romanian: basm
- Russian: сказка
- Latin American Spanish: cuento
- Swedish: berättelse
- Thai: เรื่องเล่า
- Turkish: masal
- Ukrainian: оповідання
- Vietnamese: câu chuyện
Nearby words of
tale
Related terms of
tale
Source
Definition of tale from the
Collins English Dictionary
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