tale

CEFRB1

/ˈteːl/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A story, often imaginary or traditional.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.

Examples

  • It's a stirring tale of heroic deeds.

  • The little girl was absorbed in reading a fairy tale.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark or victim.

  2. A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.

  3. An account of an asserted fact or circumstance; a rumour; a report, especially an idle or malicious story; a piece of gossip or slander; a lie.

More examples

In context

  • The tale is familiar to us.

  • Don't tell tales!

  • the Canterbury Tales

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Grandmother told a fascinating blank about dragons that kept us all awake.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English tale, from Old English talu (“tale, series, calculation”), from Proto-West Germanic *talu, from Proto-Germanic *talō (“calculation, number”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to reckon, count”). Cognate with West Frisian taal (“speech, language”), Dutch taal (“language, speech”), German Zahl (“number, figure”), Danish tale (“speech”), Icelandic tala (“speech, talk, discourse, number, figure”), Latin dolus (“guile, deceit, fraud”), Ancient Greek δόλος (dólos, “wile, bait”), Albanian ndjell (“to lure”), Northern Kurdish til (“finger”), Old Armenian տող (toł, “row”). Related to tell, talk.