Folk Meaning
/fəʊk/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA people; a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants.
nounPeople, persons.
Sentence Examples
That folk singer is very popular with people in general.
I don't like all of these folk songs.
We visited an exhibition of folk art.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The local ____ gathered in the town square to celebrate the festival.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The village is known for its traditional ____ music, which has been passed down for generations.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *fulkazder. Proto-Germanic *fulką Proto-West Germanic *folk Old English folc Middle English folk English folk 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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The organization of each folk, as such, sprang mainly from war."
— 1878-1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People:
"“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes[…]. And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]”"
— 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
"Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of."
— 2025 April 28, Ross Douthat, Nick Adams, “Condition of America”, in New Left Review, number 152, →ISSN:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The local ____ gathered in the town square to celebrate the festival.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The village is known for its traditional ____ music, which has been passed down for generations.