folk

[fohk]

noun

1. (used with a plural verb),  Usually folks. people in general.

   Folks say there wasn't much rain last summer.

2. (used with a plural verb),  Often folks. people of a specified class or group.

   country folk; poor folks.

3. (used with a plural verb),  people as the carriers of culture, especially as representing the composite of social mores, customs, forms of behavior, etc., in a society.

   The folk are the bearers of oral tradition.

4. Informal.,  folks,

   1. members of one's family; one's relatives.

      All his folks come from France.

   2. one's parents.

      Will your folks let you go?

   Synonyms: tribe, clan, people, kin, kinfolk

5. Archaic.,  a people or tribe.

adjective

1. of or originating among the common people.

   folk beliefs; a folk hero.

2. having unknown origins and reflecting the traditional forms of a society.

   folk culture; folk art.

folk

/ fəʊk /

noun

1. (functioning as plural; often plural in form) people in general, esp those of a particular group or class

   country folk

2. informal,  (functioning as plural; usually plural in form) members of a family

3. informal,  (functioning as singular) short for folk music

4. a people or tribe

5. (modifier) relating to, originating from, or traditional to the common people of a country

   a folk song

Other Word Forms

• folkish adjective
• folkishness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of folk¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English folc; cognate with Old Saxon, Old Norse folk, Old High German folk ( German Volk )

Word History and Origins

Origin of folk¹

Old English folc ; related to Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old High German folk

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. just folks, (of persons) simple, unaffected, unsophisticated, or open-hearted people.

   He enjoyed visiting his grandparents because they were just folks.

see just folks.

Example Sentences

As they grow their plants, or what industry folks call their “rate bases,” they will grow earnings.

Read more on Barron's

He and Ocasek connected in Columbus, Ohio, and started performing together, at one point appearing as a folk duo in New York City’s Greenwich Village in the late 1960s.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

I want to tell especially folks that are no longer teenagers or in your 20s, this poison of antisemitism on the right, it is spreading with young people.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

One local replies that Port William is so seemingly timeless that folks didn’t know where the river would go when they built it.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Seminal American folk singer Woody Guthrie, who was a pivotal supporting character in last year’s “A Complete Unknown,” had a biopic all to himself in this lyrical drama directed by the great Hal Ashby.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• community 
• family 
• group 
• people 
• public