Etymology

telltale

T1E1L1L1T1A1L1E1

Today it means: One who divulges private information with intent to hurt others. Full definition →

Middle English tale tellere
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The story

  1. Middle English · derived fromtale tellere
  2. English todaytelltale

From tell + tale, perhaps dissimilated from earlier taleteller, from Middle English tale tellere (literally “tale teller”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.