old wives' tale

O o

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- /oʊld ˈwaɪvz ˈteɪl/
- /əʊld ˈwaɪvz teɪl/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- /oʊld ˈwaɪvz ˈteɪl/

Definitions of old wives' tale words

noun old wives' tale a traditional belief, story, or idea that is often of a superstitious nature. 1
noun old wives' tale superstition, myth 1
countable noun old wives' tale An old wives' tale is a traditional belief, especially one which is incorrect. 0
noun old wives' tale a belief, usually superstitious or erroneous, passed on by word of mouth as a piece of traditional wisdom 0
noun old wives' tale a silly story or superstitious belief 0

See all 5 definitions of old wives' tale

Information block about the term

Origin of old wives' tale

First appearance:

before 1670

One of the 47% oldest English words

First recorded in 1670-80

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Old wives' tale

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Old wives' tale

old wives' tale popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 29% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.

According to our data about 74% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

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