story

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• storie (obsolete), storey (UK, sense 3)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman estorie, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historia, “history”). Compare history and storey (“floor of a building”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈstɔːɹi/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹi

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. A sequence of real or fictional causal events; or, an account of such a sequence.

   The book tells the story of two roommates.

2. A lie.

   You’ve been telling stories again, haven’t you?

3. (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.

   Our shop was on the fourth story of the building, so we had to install an elevator.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, chapter I:

     The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.

4. (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.

   What will she do without being able to watch her stories?

5. (obsolete) History.
   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     […] who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.

6. A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.

   What's the story with him?

   I tried it again; same story, no error message, nothing happened.

Usage notes

• (soap opera): Popularized in the 1950s, when soap operas were often billed as "continuing stories," the term "story" to describe a soap opera fell into disuse by the 21st century and is now used chiefly among older people and in rural areas. Other English-speaking countries used the term at its zenith as a "loaned" word from the United States.

Synonyms

• (account): tome
• (lie): See lie
• (floor): floor, level
• (soap opera): soap opera, serial
• (sequence of events; situtation): narrative

Derived terms

terms derived from story

Banbury story of a cock and a bull bedtime story chain story cock-and-bull story cover story end of story fish story ghost story horror story just-so story likely story love story my stories shaggy-dog story

short short story short story sob story storiation story editor storybook storyline story of my life storyteller storytelling success story tall story to cut a long story short war story

Translations

account of events

• Arabic: قِصّة (ar) (qiSSa(t)), حَكاية (ar) (Hakaaya(t))
• Armenian: պատմություն (hy) (patmut'yun)
• Baluchi: قصو (qisso), قصہ (qissa), دستاں (dastá̃)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 故事 (cmn) (gùshi)

• Czech: příběh (cs) m
• Danish: historie (da)
• Dena'ina: sukdu
• Dutch: verhaal (nl)
• Esperanto: rakonto (eo)
• Estonian: lugu (et)
• Ewe: ŋutinya
• Finnish: tarina (fi), kertomus (fi), juttu (fi)
• French: histoire (fr) f, conte (fr) f

  Old French: estoire f, conte m, dit m

• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Erzählung (de) f, Geschichte (de) f
• Greek: ιστορία (el) (istoría) f
• Haitian Creole: istwa
• Hebrew: סיפר (he)
• Hindi: कहानी (hi) (kahāni) f
• Hungarian: történet (hu), elbeszélés (hu)
• Icelandic: saga (is)
• Ido: rakonto (imaginary), naraco (narrative)
• Interlingua: conto (ia)
• Irish: scéal (ga)
• Italian: racconto (it) m, storia (it) f
• Japanese: 物語 (ja) (ものがたり, monogatari), 小説 (ja) (しょうせつ, shōsetsu), 話し (ja) (はなし, hanashi), ストーリー (ja) (sutōrī)
• Korean: 이야기 (ko) (iyagi)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: چیرۆک

• Latin: fābula (la)
• Malay: cerita
• Malayalam: കഥ (katha)
• Maltese: storja f, rakkont m
• Marathi: गोष्ट (gosht)
• Navajo: bahaneʼ
• Norwegian: historie (no) m
• Persian: داستان (fa) (dâstân)
• Polish: opowieść (pl) f, historia (pl) f
• Portuguese: estória (pt) f, história (pt) f, conto (pt) m
• Romanian: istorie (ro), poveste (ro)
• Russian: рассказ (ru) (rasskáz) m, повесть (ru) (póvest’) f, история (ru) (istórija) f
• Scottish Gaelic: sgeulachd (gd) f, sgeul (gd) m, naidheachd (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прича f

  Roman: prȋča (sh) f, raskaz, povest

• Spanish: cuento (es) m, historia (es) f
• Swahili: hadithi (sw), ngano (sw)
• Swedish: historia (sv) c, berättelse (sv) n
• Tagalog: kuwento (tl), istorya (tl)
• Talysh:

  Asalemi: نقل (nağl), داستان (dâstân)

• Telugu: కత (kata), కథ (katha)
• Turkmen: hekaýa (tk)
• Ukrainian: оповідь (uk) (ópovid’) f
• Urdu: کہانی (ur) (kahāni) f
• West Frisian: sêge (fy)
• Zulu: indaba (zu) 9/10, inganekwane (zu) 9/10

lie — see lie

level of a building

• American Sign Language: B@InsideChesthigh-PalmDown-B@InsideChesthigh-PalmDown B@SideChesthigh-PalmDown-B@SideChesthigh-PalmDown
• Arabic: طابق (ʈá:beq)
• Armenian: հարկ (hy) (hark)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樓 (cmn), 楼 (cmn) (lóu)

• Czech: podlaží (cs) n
• Danish: etage (da)
• Dutch: verdieping (nl)
• Estonian: korrus (et)
• Finnish: kerros (fi)
• French: étage (fr) m
• German: Stockwerk (de) n, Etage (de) f
• Hebrew: קוֹמָה (he) (komá) f
• Hungarian: emelet (hu)
• Italian: piano (it) m

• Japanese: 階 (kai)
• Korean: 층 (cheung)
• Macedonian: спрат (mk) (sprat) m, кат (mk) (kat) m
• Malay: tingkat (ms)
• Maltese: sular
• Polish: piętro (pl), kondygnacja (pl), poziom (pl)
• Portuguese: andar (pt) m
• Romanian: etaj (ro)
• Russian: этаж (etáž) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спрат m

  Roman: sprat m, kȁt (sh) m

• Spanish: piso (es) m
• Swedish: våning (sv) c
• Telugu: అంతస్తు (aMtastu)
• Ukrainian: поверх (póverχ) m

Verb

story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)

1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
   • Shakespeare

     How worthy he is I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.

   • Bishop Wilkins

     It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: information · seem · book · #469: story · deep · meet · interest

Anagrams

• ryots, tyros