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 Saterland Frisian Foulk, West Frisian folk, Dutch volk, German Low German and German Volk, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish folk, Faroese and Icelandic fólk. Doublet of volk.
Meanings
(not-comparable) Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a land, their culture, tradition, or history.
(not-comparable) Of or pertaining to common people as opposed to ruling classes or elites.
(not-comparable) Of or related to local building materials and styles.
(not-comparable) Believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically or ideologically correct or rigorous.
folk psychology; folk linguistics
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:
pl ludowy (believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous) · ru наро́дный (believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous) · pl zwyczajowy (believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous) · fi kansantyylinen (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · hu népies (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · pl popularny (believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous) · pl ludowy (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · fi kansanomainen (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · hu népi (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · sh на́роднӣ (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · bg наро́ден (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · hy ժողովրդական (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · uk наро́дний (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · cs lidový (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · ru наро́дный (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · de Volks- (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · hu népi (believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous) · vi dân (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · sl ljȗdski (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · cmn 民 (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · mk народен (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · hu nép- (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · fi kansanomainen (believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous) · ar شَعْبِيّ (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · be наро́дны (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · sh národnī (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · fr populaire (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular) · sk ľudový (of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported — see also vernacular)
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 Saterland Frisian Foulk, West Frisian folk, Dutch volk, German Low German and German Volk, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish folk, Faroese and Icelandic fólk. Doublet of volk.
Meanings
(archaic, countable) 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. 1878-1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People:
We thus arrive at a most unexpected imbroglio. The French have become a Germanic folk and the Germanic folk have become Gaulish! 1907, Race Prejudice, Jean Finot, page 251
Young folk, old folk, everybody come / To our little Sunday School, and have a lot of fun.
“[…] 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:
fi kansa (inhabitants of a region) · fi väki (inhabitants of a region) · hu nép (inhabitants of a region) · pt povo (inhabitants of a region) · frr fulk (inhabitants of a region) · gl xente (inhabitants of a region) · osx folk (inhabitants of a region) · it popolo (inhabitants of a region) · no folk (inhabitants of a region) · fy folk (inhabitants of a region) · es gente (inhabitants of a region) · la vivens (inhabitants of a region) · tr ulus (inhabitants of a region) · gl grei (inhabitants of a region) · ru наро́д (inhabitants of a region) · it gente (inhabitants of a region) · uk наро́д (inhabitants of a region) · tr millet (inhabitants of a region) · es pueblo (inhabitants of a region) · ang folc (inhabitants of a region) · stq Foulk (inhabitants of a region) · it abitante (inhabitants of a region) · no befolkning (inhabitants of a region) · hy ժողովուրդ (inhabitants of a region) · it autoctono (inhabitants of a region) · ka ერი (inhabitants of a region) · cel-gau touta (inhabitants of a region) · pdt Volkj (nds) (inhabitants of a region) · la habitans (inhabitants of a region) · fr peuple (inhabitants of a region) · bar Voik (inhabitants of a region) · nl volk (inhabitants of a region) · sv folk (inhabitants of a region) · pl lud (inhabitants of a region) · la populus (inhabitants of a region) · be наро́д (inhabitants of a region) · tr halk (inhabitants of a region) · de Volk (inhabitants of a region) · frr föölk (inhabitants of a region) · frr följk (inhabitants of a region) · gl pobo (inhabitants of a region) · wyi koolinjerrk (inhabitants of a region) · sco fowk (inhabitants of a region) · enm folk (inhabitants of a region)