: a characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a people
Examples of folktale in a Sentence
West African folktales that continue to be passed from generation to generation through storytelling.
Recent Examples on the Web
His original and compelling depictions of indigenous histories and folktales became the covers of famous literary works like Nigerian literary giant Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease.
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NPR, 22 June 2024
My research gave me a lens to see and listen through—including reading Seneca-Cayuga stories and folktales as well as learning about the relationship that the Seneca-Cayuga people had to their landscape of origin and how that was adapted and carried through the experience of displacement.
—Kate Nelson, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 June 2024
Traditional Caribbean and Creole folktales feature a mischievous rabbit named Compère Lapin—and so, since the chef opened Compère Lapin in 2015, the rabbits have been pouring in.
—Essence, 20 June 2024
In the mid-nineteenth century, the ethnographer Afanasyev published around 600 Russian folktales—the world’s largest academic collection of such texts.
—Maria Lipman, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2021
See all Example Sentences for folktale 
NPR, 22 June 2024
My research gave me a lens to see and listen through—including reading Seneca-Cayuga stories and folktales as well as learning about the relationship that the Seneca-Cayuga people had to their landscape of origin and how that was adapted and carried through the experience of displacement.
—Kate Nelson, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 June 2024
Traditional Caribbean and Creole folktales feature a mischievous rabbit named Compère Lapin—and so, since the chef opened Compère Lapin in 2015, the rabbits have been pouring in.
—Essence, 20 June 2024
In the mid-nineteenth century, the ethnographer Afanasyev published around 600 Russian folktales—the world’s largest academic collection of such texts.
—Maria Lipman, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2021
See all Example Sentences for folktale
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'folktale.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near folktale
Cite this Entry
“Folktale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/folktale. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
folktale
noun
folk·tale
-ˌtāl 
: a story made up and handed down by the common people
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