Tale Definition

tāl

tales

noun

tales

Something told or related; relation or recital of happenings.

Webster's New World

A literary composition in narrative form, often, specif., an unsophisticated, somewhat digressive one.

Webster's New World

A piece of gossip.

Webster's New World

A story or account of true, legendary, or fictitious events; narrative.

Webster's New World

A falsehood; lie.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

verb

(dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To reckon; consider (someone) to have something.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Tale

Singular:

tale

Plural:

From Middle English, from Old English talu (“tale, series, calculation, list, statement, deposition, relation, communication, narrative, fable, story, accusation, action at law”), from Proto-Germanic *talō (“calculation, number”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to reckon, count”). Cognate with 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 [script?] (dólos, “wile, bait”), Albanian dalloj (“to distinguish, tell”), Kurdish til (“finger”), Old Armenian տող (toł, “row”). Related to tell, talk.

From Wiktionary
From Middle English talen, from Old English talian (“to count, calculate, reckon, account, consider, think, esteem, value, argue, tell, relate, impute, assign”), from Proto-Germanic *talōną (“to count”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to count, reckon, aim, calculate, adjust”). Cognate with German zählen (“to count, number, reckon”), Swedish tala (“to speak, talk”), Icelandic tala (“to talk”).

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English talu del-² in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition