folk

B1 Topic:People & Society

Also spelled folkes

US /foʊk/ UK /fəʊk/ See IPA manual

Freq #4806

Meanings

1

noun
People in general; ordinary people.

They are simple country folk.
2

noun
Your relatives, especially your parents.

I need to call my folks back home.
3

noun
Traditional music of the ordinary people of a region or country.

She grew up listening to Irish folk.
4

adj
Traditional and passed down among ordinary people rather than learned formally.

There are many folk remedies for the common cold.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · people in general; ordinary... folkscommon people

3 noun · traditional music of the... folk music

Word family

Forms folksfowks

Derived forms adfolkalms-folkalmsfolkanti-folkavant-folkblackfolkbritfolkbusinessfolkchairfolkcisfolkclansfolkcommonfolk

Related forms folketinglandfolknorfolksuffolkvolk

Appears in

Phrases (3)

See all

Proverbs (3)

See all

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.

*pleh₁- Proto-Indo-European folk Middle English folc Old English *folk Proto-West Germanic *fulką Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# folk

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /foʊk/
**IPA (UK):** /fəʊk/
**Frequency rank:** 4806

## Meanings
1. People in general; ordinary people.
2. Your relatives, especially your parents.
3. Traditional music of the ordinary people of a region or country.
4. Traditional and passed down among ordinary people rather than learned formally.

## Examples
- They are simple country folk.
- I need to call my folks back home.
- She grew up listening to Irish folk.
- There are many folk remedies for the common cold.

## Derived Forms
- adfolk
- alms-folk
- almsfolk
- anti-folk
- avant-folk
- blackfolk
- britfolk
- businessfolk
- chairfolk
- cisfolk
- clansfolk
- commonfolk

## Related Forms
- folketing
- landfolk
- norfolk
- suffolk
- volk

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *pleh₁-
- Root: folk
- Root: folc
- Root: *folk
- Root: *fulką

## 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.

## AI Etymology
Folk comes 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. In current use, the main senses are “People in general; ordinary people” and “Your relatives, especially your parents”.

## Topics
- People & Society

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