folk

• vok, volk, volge, volke (dialectal)

From Middle English folk, from Old English folc, from Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-gós, from *pleh₁- (“to fill”).

Cognate with German Volk, Dutch volk, Swedish folk and Danish folk. Doublet of volk.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəʊk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /foʊk/, (nonstandard) /foʊlk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊk

folk (plural folk or folks)

1. (archaic) A grouping of smaller peoples or tribes as a nation.
   • 1878-1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People:

     The 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, page 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) People in general.
4. (plural only) A particular group of people.

   Young folk, old folk, everybody come / To our little Sunday School, and have a lot of fun.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:

     “ […] 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 [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […] ”

5. (plural only, plural: folks) One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.
6. (music) Short for folk music.

folk (not comparable)

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.
3. (architecture) Of or related to local building materials and styles.
4. Believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous.

   folk psychology; folk linguistics

• folk etymology
• folk medicine

• "folk" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 136.

From Old Norse fólk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką.

• IPA^(key): /fɔlk/, [fʌlˀɡ̊]

folk n (singular definite folket, plural indefinite folk)

1. people, persons

   Der var mange folk på torvet.

   There were many people on the plaza.

2. one, people

   Folk ved ikke hvor meget deres hamstre er værd.

   People don't know how much their hamsters are worth.

3. (countable) a people, a nation (not necessarily politically or geographically united)
4. crew

• (nation): folkeslag, nation

• hoffolk

• “folk” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “folk” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

From English folk (“folk music”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɔwɡ̊]

folk c (singular definite folken, not used in plural form)

1. folk music (contemporary music in the style of traditional folk music)

• folk on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

• folkki

From English folk.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfolk/, [ˈfo̞lk]
• Rhymes: -olk
• Syllabification^(key): folk

folk

1. (music) folk, folk music

• folklaulaja
• folkmusiikki

folk m (plural folks)

1. folk (folk music)

• folke, foolk, fok, folck, folc, follc, volk

From Old English folk, from Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką.

• IPA^(key): /fɔlk/

folk (plural folk or folkes)

1. people, folk (multiple individuals)
   • 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “Here Bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunt́burẏ”, in The Tales of Caunt́burẏ (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 2, recto, lines 23-26:

     At nyght was come / in to that hoſtelrye / Wel ·xxix· in a compaignye / Of sondry folk / by auenture yfalle / In felaweſhipe / and pilgrymes weere they alle

     There came at nightfall to that hostelry / Some nine and twenty in a company / Of sundry folk who had chanced to fall / In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all

2. nation, race, stock
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Apocalips 11:18, page 121r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ⁊ folkis ben wrooþ · ⁊ þi wraþþe cam · ⁊ tyme of deed men to be demed · ⁊ to ȝelde meede to þi ſeruauntis ⁊ pꝛophetis ⁊ halowis ⁊ dꝛedynge þi name · to ſmale ⁊ to grete / ⁊ to diſtrie hem þat coꝛrumpiden þe erþe

     And the nations were furious; then your fury came. It is time for the dead to be judged, to give rewards to your servants, prophets, saints, and those who fear your name, both small and large, and to destroy those who destroyed the Earth.

3. group, band, troop (of people):
   1. subjects, followers, comitatus
   2. army, retinue (group of armed people)
   3. gathering, parliament
4. family, kin, relatives
5. humankind, humanity; all people
6. (rare) creatures, beings

Can be treated as a singular or a plural noun.

• lond folk
• Northfolk
• Suffolk

• English: folk
• Scots: fowk

• “folk, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old Norse fólk, folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką.

folk n (definite singular folket, indefinite plural folk, definite plural folka or folkene)

1. a people
2. people in general
3. folk

• avfolke
• befolke

• “folk” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse folk, fólk. Akin to English folk.

• IPA^(key): /fɔlk/, /fɔɽk/

folk n (definite singular folket, indefinite plural folk, definite plural folka)

1. people

   Folk er rare.

   People are strange.

   Nordmennene er eit rart folk.

   The Norwegians are a strange people.

• “folk” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• fulk,

From Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką.

folk n

1. people, folk

• North Frisian:
  • Föhr-Amrum: folk
• Saterland Frisian: Foulk
• West Frisian: folk

• folc

From Proto-West Germanic *folk

folk n

1. people, folk
2. troop; group of warriors

• Middle High German: volk
  • Cimbrian: vòlk, bòlk
  • German: Volk
  • Hunsrik: Follek
  • Luxembourgish: Vollek
  • Vilamovian: fulk
  • Yiddish: פֿאָלק‎ (folk)

• fólk

From Proto-Germanic *fulką.

folk n

1. troop, army
2. people

• The meaning of ‘troop, army’ is decidedly older and is the only one present in the earliest poetry. There, þjóð and lýðir are used for the meaning ‘people’.

• Icelandic: fólk
• Faroese: fólk
• Norn: folekar
• Norwegian Nynorsk: folk; (dialectal) fólk, fókk, følk, fælk
• Jamtish: fołk
• Elfdalian: fuok
• Old Swedish: folk, fulk
  • Swedish: folk
• Old Danish: folk
  • Danish: folk
  • Scanian: fólk
• Old Gutnish: fulk
  • Gutnish: fålk

• folc

From Proto-West Germanic *folk.

folk n

1. people, folk

• Middle Low German: volk
  • Low German:
    • German Low German:

      Hamburgisch: Volk

      Westphalian:

      Lippisch: Volk

      Ravensbergisch: Folk

      Sauerländisch: Volk

      Westmünsterländisch: Volk

  • Plautdietsch: Volkj

Borrowed from English folk (music), from Middle English folk, from Old English folc, from Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-gós, from *pleh₁-.

• IPA^(key): /fɔlk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔlk
• Syllabification: folk

folk m inan

1. folk music (contemporary music in traditional style)

• folk in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• folk in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English folk.

folk m (uncountable)

1. (music) folk music (contemporary music in traditional style)

   Synonym: música folk

From English folk.

folk n (uncountable)

1. folk music

folk (plural folks)

1. Alternative spelling of fowk

English folk

• IPA^(key): /ˈfolk/ [ˈfolk]
• Rhymes: -olk
• Syllabification: folk

folk m (uncountable)

1. folk (music)

• “folk”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

From Old Norse fólk, folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką.

• audio

  (file)

folk n

1. (uncountable) people in general, humans
2. a people, a nation; in compounds referring to local or national traditions (folklore), national institutions (folkhem) or international relations (folkrätt)

• folk in Svensk ordbok.

From Old Frisian folk, from Proto-West Germanic *folk.

• IPA^(key): /folk/, /foːwk/

folk n (plural folken, diminutive folkje)

1. people, folk

• “folk”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

folk

1. call at the door if anyone's home