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 (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.

• 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”.

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^[1], 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.

• 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
• Hyphenation^(key): folk

folk

1. (music) folk, folk music

• “folk”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• Audio:

  (file)

folk m or f (plural folks)

1. folk (folk music)

• folc, folck, follc, volc (Early Middle English)
• foolk, folke (Late Middle English)
• fok, foke (Northern); volk (Kent or Southern)

From Old English folc, 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 Caunt́bury (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.)‎^[3], 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

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

• lond folk
• Northfolk
• Suffolk

• English: folk; folkes
• 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.

Male given names:

Female given names:

• “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, folch

From Proto-West Germanic *folk

folk n

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

• Middle High German: volk
  • Cimbrian: vòlk, bòlk (Mezzaselva)
  • 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
    • Norwegian Bokmål: 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: Volk
    • German Low German: Volk

      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): /ˈfɔlk/

• 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

Borrowed from English folk.

folk n (uncountable)

1. folk music

folk (plural folks)

1. alternative spelling of fowk

• folco (adapted)

Borrowed from English folk.

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

folk m (uncountable)

1. folk (music)

• “folk”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

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

• IPA^(key): /fɔlːk/

• Audio (Gotland); “ett folk”:

  (file)

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]

• 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.

• människa
• person
• snubbe

• folk in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• folk in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• folk in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• folk in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

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