Meaning

noun a deliberately false or improbable account

noun a short moral story (often with animal characters)

noun a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events

originFrom Middle English, borrowed from Old French fable, from Latin fābula, from fārī (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”). See ban, and compare fabulous, fame. Doublet of fabula.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0