Meaning & use
folktale
A traditional story passed down orally through generations within a culture, often featuring common people or magical elements.
See it in a sentence
The grandmother told her grandchildren a folktale about a clever fox who outwitted a bear.
Many folktales were later collected and written down by scholars in the nineteenth century.
A note on using this word
A folktale differs from a myth in that it usually involves ordinary people or animals rather than gods, and is told mainly to entertain or teach a lesson.
Words with a similar meaning
legendfable
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