noun
1.
Usually, folks. ( used with a plural verb ) people in general: Folks say there wasn't much rain last summer.
2.
Often, folks. ( used with a plural verb ) 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.
folks, Informal.
a.
members of one's family; one's relatives: All his folks come from France.
b.
one's parents: Will your folks let you go?
5.
Archaic. a people or tribe.
adjective
6.
of or originating among the common people: folk beliefs; a folk hero.
7.
having unknown origins and reflecting the traditional forms of a society: folk culture; folk art.
00:10
Folk
is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
8.
just folks, Informal. (of persons) simple, unaffected, unsophisticated, or open-hearted people: He enjoyed visiting his grandparents because they were just folks.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English folc; cognate with Old Saxon, Old Norse folk, Old High German folk (German Volk)
before 900; Middle English; Old English folc; cognate with Old Saxon, Old Norse folk, Old High German folk (German Volk)
Synonyms
4. kinfolk, kin, relations, people; clan, tribe.
4. kinfolk, kin, relations, people; clan, tribe.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To Folk
Collins
World English Dictionary
folk (fəʊk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n , pl folk, folks | |
| 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 |
| [Old English folc; related to Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old High German folk] | |
| 'folkish | |
| —adj | |
| 'folkishness | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
folk
O.E. folc "common people, men, tribe, multitude," from P.Gmc. *folkom (cf. O.Fris. folk, M.Du. volc, Ger. Volk "people"), from P.Gmc. *fulka-, perhaps originally "host of warriors;" cf. O.N. folk "people," also "army, detachment;" and Lith. pulkas "crowd," O.C.S. pluku "division of an army," both believed
to have been borrowed from P.Gmc. Some have attempted, without success, to link the word to Gk. plethos "multitude;" L. plebs "people, mob," populus "people" or vulgus. Superseded in most senses by people.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia
folk
an ideal type or concept of society that is completely cohesive-morally, religiously, politically, and socially-because of the small numbers and isolated state of the people, because of the relatively unmediated personal quality of social interaction, and because the entire world of experience is permeated with religious meaning, the understanding and expression of which are shared by all members. The folk society is generally assumed to be the model of preliterate or so-called primitive societies that anthropologists have traditionally studied.
Learn more about folk with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences
Smart folk plot their meals in peace-dividing and conquering the uniformly delicious sides-and call up for delivery.
Once again the little folk of the forest dance, sing, and feast on meat obtained through their hunting prowess.
On the other hand, it refers to low cultural shows operating in a folk environment.
They have made it easier for rural folk to obtain permission to settle in a middle-sized city than in a large one.
Idioms & Phrases
Nearby Words
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