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folk

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Folk and fólk

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

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

Pronunciation

Noun

folk (countable and uncountable, plural folks)

  1. (countable, archaic) A people; a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants.
    • 1878-1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People:
      The organization of each folk, as such, sprang mainly from war.
    • 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!
  2. (collective plural) People, persons.
    There were a lot of folk in the streets.
    Young folk, old folk, everybody come / To our little Sunday School, and have a lot of fun.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      “ […] 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. […] ”
  3. (collective plural, usually as folks) One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.
    I need to call my folks back home.
  4. (music) Ellipsis of folk music.

Usage notes

  • In principle, folk behaves grammatically like the synonym people. As a countable noun (meaning “nation”) it may take the plural folks. As a collective plural (meaning “persons”) it remains unchanged. Informally, however, the form folks is also used in the collective sense (which is not possible for peoples). This latter usage is particularly common in the sense “relatives”.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

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 or ideologically correct or rigorous.
    folk psychology; folk linguistics
    • 2025 April 28, Ross Douthat, Nick Adams, “Condition of America”, in New Left Review‎, number 152, →ISSN:
      Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

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Danish

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fɔlk/, [fʌlˀɡ̊]

Noun

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
Declension
More information neuter gender, singular ...
Synonyms
Derived terms
  • hoffolk
Further reading

Etymology 2

From English folk (“folk music”).

Pronunciation

Noun

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

  1. (music) folk music (contemporary music in the style of traditional folk music)
    Coordinate terms: folkemusik, protestsang
Declension
More information common gender, singular ...

See also

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Finnish

Alternative forms

  • folkki

Etymology

From English folk.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

folk

  1. (music) folk, folk music

Declension

More information nominative, genitive ...
More information first-person singular possessor, singular ...

Derived terms

compounds

Further reading

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French

Pronunciation

Noun

folk m or f (plural folks)

  1. folk (folk music)

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

folk (plural folk or folkes)

  1. people, folk (multiple individuals)
  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, folio 121, recto, 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

Usage notes

  • This noun may be either treated as a conventional singular noun (with folkes as a plural or an uncountable collective noun.

Descendants

  • English: folk; folkes
  • Scots: fowk

References

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

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

Noun

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

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

Derived terms

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

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.

Derived terms

Male given names:

  • Folkad
  • Folkar
  • Folkbjørn
  • Folke
  • Folkgeir
  • Folkleiv
  • Folkmar
  • Folkstein
  • Folkung
  • Folkvard, Folkevord
  • Folkve
  • Folkvid
  • Folkvin

Female given names:

  • Folka

References

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Old Frisian

Alternative forms

  • fulk,

Etymology

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

Noun

folk n

  1. people, folk

Inflection

More information singular, plural ...

Descendants

  • North Frisian: följk
  • Saterland Frisian: Foulk
  • West Frisian: folk
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Old High German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *folk

Noun

folk n

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

Declension

More information case, singular ...

Descendants

Old Norse

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *fulką.

Noun

folk n

  1. troop, army
  2. people

Usage notes

  • 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’.

Declension

More information neuter, singular ...

Descendants

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Old Saxon

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *folk.

Noun

folk n

  1. people, folk

Declension

More information singular, plural ...

Descendants

  • Middle Low German: volk
    • Low German: Volk
      • German Low German: Volk
        Hamburgisch: Volk
        Westphalian:
        Lippisch: Volk
        Ravensbergisch: Folk
        Sauerländisch: Volk
        Westmünsterländisch: Volk
    • Plautdietsch: Volkj
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Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

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-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfɔlk/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔlk
  • Syllabification: folk

Noun

folk m inan

  1. folk music (contemporary music in traditional style)

Declension

Declension of folk
More information singular, nominative ...

Derived terms

adjective
  • foklowy
adverb
  • foklowo

Further reading

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

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English folk.

Pronunciation

 
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈfow.ki/ [ˈfoʊ̯.ki]
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈfow.ke/ [ˈfoʊ̯.ke]

Noun

folk m (uncountable)

  1. (music) folk music (contemporary music in traditional style)
    Synonym: música folk

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English folk.

Noun

folk n (uncountable)

  1. folk music

Declension

More information singular only, indefinite ...

Scots

Noun

folk (plural folks)

  1. alternative spelling of fowk

Spanish

Alternative forms

  • folco (adapted)

Etymology

Borrowed from English folk.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

folk m (uncountable)

  1. folk (music)

Further reading

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish fōlk, from Runic Swedish fulk, from Old Norse fólk, folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką.

Pronunciation

Noun

folk n

  2. (chiefly uncountable) people
    Det var mycket folk på Stigs fest
    There were a lot of people at Stig's party
    Det står en massa folk där borta
    There is a bunch of people standing over there
    komma bort i folkhavet
    get lost in the sea of people
    vanligt folk
    common people
    fint folk
    people of high social standing, gentlefolk
    båtfolk
    boat people (people into boating)
    folk och fä
    people and animals (idiomatic)
    Han är väl som folk är mest
    I guess he's like most people [like people are mostly" – slightly unusual phrasing, but idiomatic in "som group är mest"]
    1. (countable) a people (larger social unit, often the people of a nation)
      Folket har talat. Nisses kebabsås vann omröstningen.
      The people have spoken. Nisse's kebab sauce won the vote.
      det amerikanska folket
      the American people
      de nordiska folken
      the Nordic peoples
      orsaka en folkstorm
      cause a public outcry
    2. (chiefly uncountable) people (most people or the common people, sometimes also in terms of culture, traditions, etc.)
      folk och herrar
      people and lords
      folkets fiender
      the enemies of the people
      Folket reste sig mot adeln och kungamakten
      The people rose up against the nobility and royalty
      folkmusik
      folk music
      folkdräkt
      folk costume
      1. (in some expressions) ordinary, reasonable people
        Du verkar stressad, Nisse. Ta dig en sup så att du blir som folk.
        You seem stressed out, Nisse. Have a drink to straighten yourself out [so that you become like people].
        Uppför dig som folk!
        Act like a civilized person [like people]!
        Hon borde växa upp och bli som folk
        She should grow up and become a responsible adult [become like people]

Usage notes

  • Not inherently rustic like English folk, but sometimes with similar connotations, as seen above.
  • Usually interchangeable with människor in the generic sense of people.
  • Refers to international law in folkrätt.

Declension

More information nominative, genitive ...

Derived terms

See also

References

West Frisian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

folk n (plural folken, diminutive folkje)

  1. people, folk

Further reading

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

Interjection

folk

  1. call at the door if anyone's home

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