NYT Dictionary

TALE

/ˈtæɪ̯l/
NounVerbTAYLGrade 6

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

Meaning

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

Etymology

Origin: Old English

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.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

narrativenarrationstoryfibtarradiddletaradiddleaccountaggregateamountbackbiting

NYT Puzzle Appearances

Accepted in 7 recorded puzzles:

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