folk

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   people in general, often used in the plural

   They are country folk.

2. 2
   noun

   A people; a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants.

   The organization of each folk, as such, sprang mainly from war.

3. 3
   noun

   People, persons.

   There were a lot of folk in the streets.

4. 4
   noun

   One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.

   I need to call my folks back home.

5. 5
   adj

   Believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically or ideologically correct or rigorous.

   folk psychology; folk linguistics

6. 6
   noun

   the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community

7. 7
   noun

   people descended from a common ancestor

8. 8
   noun

   a social division of (usually preliterate) people

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.