folk

CEFRB1

/fəʊk/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    People in general, especially from a particular group or place.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.

Examples

  • I don't like all of these folk songs.

  • That folk singer is very popular with people in general.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
3

Also pronounced

  • /foʊk/
  • /foʊlk/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. People, persons.

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

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a land, their culture, tradition, or history.

More examples

In context

  • We visited an exhibition of folk art.

  • There were a lot of folk in the streets.

  • We thus arrive at a most unexpected imbroglio. The French have become a Germanic folk and the Germanic folk have become Gaulish!

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The local blank gathered in the town square to celebrate the festival.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish folk, Icelandic fólk. Doublet of volk.