tattle
To chatter; to gossipTo chatter; to gossip.
» She tattled on me to her teacher.
Она наябедничала на меня своей учительнице.
Meaning
3 senses(intransitive)To chatter; to gossip.
klatschen, tratschen
болта́тьboltátʹ, трепа́тьсяtrepátʹsja
(Canada, US, derogatory, intransitive)Often said of children: to report incriminating information about another person, or a person's wrongdoing in an annoying fashion, usually to a person in a position of authority over the accused person; to tell on somebody.
petzen
я́бедничатьjábedničatʹ
(intransitive, obsolete)To speak like a baby or young child; to babble, to prattle; to speak haltingly; to stutter.
- divulge confidential information or secrets
- speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
Examples
5 sentencesShe tattled on me to her teacher.
ruОна наябедничала на меня своей учительнице.
I've got no respect for finks, snitches, or tattle-tales.
Nobody likes a tattle-tale.
What little girl didn't tattle to her mother about the naughty things the boys were doing?
Eve swore Minnie to secrecy in hopes that she wouldn't tattle about what they'd done.
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 2
By meaning 2
Origin
From Middle Dutch tatelen, tateren (“to babble, chatter”) (modern Dutch tatelen, tateren (From Middle Dutch tatelen, tateren (“to babble, chatter”) (modern Dutch tatelen, tateren (“to talk, chatter”)), originally imitative. The word is cognate with Saterland Frisian tätelje (“to talk nonsense, babble”), Middle Low German tāteren, tadderen (“to babble, chatter”) (whence modern German Low German tatern (“to chatter”)), Low German tateln, täteln (“to cackle, gabble”). Compare also Middle English dadel, dadull (“tattling, gossip”), and its alteration twaddle.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
tattles, tattling, tattled, tattledSynonyms
22 synonyms- divulge confidential information or secrets:spill the beanslet the cat out of the bagtalkblabpeachbabblesingbabble out
- speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly:chatterpifflepalaverpratetittle-tattletwaddleclackmaunder
Word family
7 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle