tale
/ˈteɪl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.29 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.
noun
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.
Example Sentences
- "the Canterbury Tales"
- "And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale."
- "But can you guess what there was in the box? Why, it was a calf's tail, and if the calf's tail had been longer this tale would have been longer too."
- "Barla Von: What's this? One of the Earth-clan? Ah, a very famous one, yes? You are the one called Shepard. Barla Von: The tale of how you survived the great tragedy on Akuze is truly remarkable. I am amazed each time I hear it."
- "the ignorant, […] who measure by tale, and not by weight"
- "In packing, they keep a just tale of the number that every hogshead containeth ..."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈteɪl/
- British English: /ˈteɪl/