Folk

Pronunciation

• enPR: fōk, IPA: /fəʊk/
• Rhymes: -əʊk

Alternative forms

• voke, volk, volke dialectal

Origin

From Middle English folk, from Old English folc, from Proto-Germanic *fulką (compare West Frisian folk, Dutch volk and German Volk), from *fulka- ("crowd, army"), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-go (compare Welsh ôl 'track', Lithuanian pulkas 'crowd', Old Church Slavonic plŭkŭ 'army division', Albanian plog 'barn, heap'; the Slavic and Lithuanian words may have been borrowed from Proto-Germanic instead). (Some have also attempted to link the word to Latin vulgus, populus or plebs.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/folk

) Related to follow.

Full definition of folk

Adjective

1. Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a land, their culture, tradition, or history.
2. Of or pertaining to common people as opposed to ruling classes or elites.

Noun

1. (archaic) A grouping of smaller peoples or tribes as a nation.
• J. R. GreenThe organization of each folk, as such, sprang mainly from war.
2. The inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants.
• 1907, Race Prejudice, Jean Finot, p. 251:We thus arrive at a most unexpected imbroglio. The French have become a Germanic folk and the Germanic folk have become Gaulish!
3. (plural only, plural: folks) One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.
4. (music) Folk music.
5. (plural only) People in general.
   Young folk, old folk, everybody come,
   To our little Sunday School and have a lot of fun.
• 1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest Chapter 1, “… the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes.... And then, when you see senders, you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. …”
6. (plural only) A particular group of people.

Derived terms

Related terms