# folk

Pronunciation: say "FOHK" US /foʊk/, UK /fəʊk/

## Noun

1. People in general; men, women, and children considered collectively.
   - Simple: People in general, meaning all the men, women, and children in a place or group.
   - _The fair drew folk from every village in the county._
   - _Working folk filled the square long before the speeches began._
3. Short for folk music: traditional music passed down within a community, or modern songs written in that style, often acoustic. — Ellipsis of folk music.
   - Simple: Short for folk music: traditional music passed down in a community, or new songs in that style.
   - _The festival lineup mixed folk with jazz and blues._
   - _He switched from rock to folk after college._
4. A person's relatives, especially their parents.
   - Simple: Your family, especially your mother and father.
   - _Her folks drove six hours to watch her graduate, and her dad cried through the whole ceremony._
   - _After college she moved back in with her folks for a year to save money on rent._

## Adjective

2. Belonging to the traditional culture of the ordinary people of a region, such as its customs, crafts, dances and building styles.
   - Simple: Part of the old, traditional way of life of ordinary people in a place, like folk tales or folk dances.
   - _The collection focuses on folk traditions of the coastal region._
   - _Her research traced how folk customs changed over the centuries._
5. Based on the beliefs or knowledge passed on among ordinary people, rather than on formal scholarship or science.
   - Simple: Believed or passed on by ordinary people, and not always proven by experts.
   - _The book separates real medicine from folk cures with no proven effect._
   - _Folk explanations of dreams rarely match what scientists find._
6. Relating to the common people rather than ruling classes or elites.
   - Simple: Relating to ordinary people instead of rulers or the rich.
   - _Beside the official teachings of the church, a lively folk religion of local saints and healing charms flourished among the peasants._
   - _Though the factory owners called him a troublemaker, the young union organizer became a folk hero in the mill towns._

## Noun

7. A people regarded as a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially its native population. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A group of people who share one land, like a tribe or nation.

## Origin

From Middle English folk, from Old English folc, going back through Proto-West Germanic *folk to Proto-Germanic *fulką, possibly from a Proto-Indo-European root *pleh₁- meaning "to fill." It is cognate with German Volk, Dutch volk, and Swedish and Danish folk.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/folk (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).