folk

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“
Part of the post-folk performance movement in Russian folk, Reelroad has deep roots in Celtic music, but now has reached back into its own Russian folk traditions and propelled that traditional sound into the future with contemporary sensibilities.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun The common people of a society or region considered as the representatives of a traditional way of life and especially as the originators or carriers of the customs, beliefs, and arts that make up a distinctive culture: a leader who came from the folk.
  2. noun Archaic A nation; a people.
  3. noun Informal People in general. Often used in the plural: Folks around here are very friendly.
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Examples (50)

  • Was it really to prove to Benden that his folk were the only ones left? —  The Chronicles Of Pern: First Fall
  • Sea folk were a rowdy lot, and it was best that a man know who he insulted or accosted, lest blood be drawn. —  Wit'ch's Storm
  • The scientists had to put them all to sleep, and the crewmen all died of old age on the way, leaving their sons to carry on until the folk were awakened. —  Shining Steel
  • And among those three-quarters of the folk were the family members, the wives and the children. —  IMMORTALIS
  • His friend the poet Kind was with him, and they were ransacking an old book, Apel's “Ghost Stories.” One of these dealt with the ancient legend of the hunter Bartusch, a woodland myth ranking high in German folk-lore. —  The Great German Composers
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English folc; see pelə-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English folk, folc, from Anglo-Saxon folc = OFries. Old Saxon folk = D. Middle Low German volk = Old High German folc, Middle High German volc, German volk = Icelandic fōlk = Danish Swedish folk, people, people collectively, the people, a people or nation, = Lithuanian pulkas, a crowd, = Old Bulgarian plŭkŭ = Russian polkŭ, an army. The Old French folc, foulc, fulc, fouc, fouk, etc., people, multitude, crowd, troop, is of German origin. Connection with flock (by transposition) is improbable; with L. vulgus, out of the question. The Anglo-Saxon plural was the same in form as the singular (folc), and meant only ‘peoples, nations’; so Middle English, where also plural folkes, peoples, occurs; but the plural folks, meaning persons, appears in late Middle English
 

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/foʊk/
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