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fable

Pronunciation: /ˈfeɪbəl/

The English word “fable” has 6 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, etc. as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables.
  2. Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.
  3. Fiction; untruth; falsehood.
  4. The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.

verb

  1. To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write or utter what is not true.
  2. To make up; to devise, and speak of, as true or real; to tell of falsely; to recount in the form of a fable.

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French fable, from Latin fābula, from fārī (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”). See ban, and compare fabulous, fame. Doublet of fabula.

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