Other forms: parables
A parable is a short story told to teach a moral lesson. The parable of the sower, tell a parable, a modern parable.
It leaves the lesson to the listener, which is what separates it from a fable, where the moral is stated at the end. The Greek behind it means a comparison, and the same word gave the mathematical parabola by way of the shape of a thrown object's path.
1nounparableA short story told to teach a moral lesson.
“The priest told the parable of the lost sheep to show that everyone matters.”
parable is a story.
Greek parabole means a comparison, from paraballein, to throw beside. Parabola is a doublet.
Middle English
parable
English, today
parable
From Middle English parable. From Middle English parable, from Old French parable, parabole, from Latin parabola, from Ancient Greek παραβολή (“comparison”). a doublet of parabola and parole and palaver.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA