telltale

Etymology

It is formed from English tell + tale,^[2][3][4] after the phrase tell tales.^[5][6][2] Etymonline traces it to the verbal phrase “tell a tale”, to relate a false or exaggerated story, recorded from the mid-13th century.^[7] Johnson (1755) also derived it from tell and tale.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who tells tales, idly or spitefully revealing other people's private affairs: 1548, in Hall's Union.^[2][5] Etymonline gives the 1540s^[7] and Dictionary.com 1540–50.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the person who betrays secrets the word passed in 1595 to a thing that reveals what was not meant to be known, such as a gesture or a symptom.^[2] The adjective, disposed to tell secrets and then revealing, is recorded from the 1570s,^[7] or the late 16th century in the Shorter Oxford.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as one who gives malicious information, quoting Shakespeare's "flearing telltale" from Julius Caesar and Swift's "A telltale out of school / Is of all wits the greatest fool".^[8] From the late 18th century the word named devices that show a condition not otherwise visible: a pointer showing the wind supply of an organ (1786), an indicator near a ship's wheel showing the position of the rudder (1791), gauges in general (1823), the telltale clock that checked a night watchman's rounds (1827), cords hung over a railway line to warn of a low bridge (1885), a strip of light fabric on a boat's stay or mast showing the wind (1904) and a pilot light on a car's dashboard (1905).^[2] In Warwickshire the tell-tale was a clock mechanism on which watchmen in factories recorded each round.^[9] The Shorter Oxford also records it from the early 19th century for sandpipers whose alarm call scatters game birds, especially the yellowlegs in the United States,^[3] and in slang it has meant the mouth (1832)^[10] and, in Australia, a car's indicator light (1963).^[10]

Timeline

• 1548 – a person who tells tales about others.^[2][5]
• 1570s – as an adjective, inclined to tell secrets.^[7]
• 1595 – a thing that reveals something not meant to be known.^[2]
• 1786 – a pointer showing the state of the wind supply of an organ.^[2]
• 1791 – an indicator near a ship's wheel showing the position of the rudder.^[2]
• 1823 – an indicator or gauge in general.^[2]
• 1827 – a telltale clock.^[2]
• 1832 – slang, the mouth.^[10]
• 1885 – dangling cords warning of a bridge over a railway.^[2]
• 1904 – a strip of fabric on a boat's stay or mast showing the wind direction.^[2]
• 1905 – a pilot light on the dashboard of a motor vehicle.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who reveals other people's secrets or private affairs; an informer or talebearer, in later British use especially a child who tells on others.^{[5][11][12][2]}
2. Something that reveals what was meant to stay hidden; a sign or indication.^{[5][11][12][2]}
3. A device that shows or records some fact or condition, such as a gauge or a warning light on a dashboard.^[5][11][2]
4. A time clock, or formerly a clock that recorded a watchman's rounds.^[11][5][2]
5. (nautical) A strip of yarn or fabric tied to a sail, shroud or stay to show the direction of the wind.^[11][12][2]
6. A row of hanging strips above a railway track that warns of a low bridge or tunnel ahead.^[11][2]
7. In squash and rackets, the strip of metal along the bottom of the front wall, above which the ball must be hit.^[12][11]

Adjective

1. Revealing something, especially something that was meant to stay secret: the telltale smell of smoke on his coat.^[5][3][1]
2. Given to telling secrets; tattling.^[5][7]

Word family

• telltalely

Related words

• tell
• tale
• talebearer

Usage notes

Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford spell the word tell-tale,^[7][3] and the OED labels the sense "a person who tells tales" chiefly British.^[2] In nursery and colloquial use the Shorter Oxford records tell-tale-tit,^[3] and Etymonline an old colloquial tell-pye (1828); tale-teller, an informant, is older, from the late 14th century.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster