folk

Etymology

From Middle English folk, from Old English folc, from Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-gós, from *pleh₁- (“to fill”). Cognate with German Volk, Dutch volk, Swedish folk and Danish folk. Doublet of volk.

noun

1. (archaic) A grouping of smaller peoples or tribes as a nation.
   The organization of each folk, as such, sprang mainly from war. 1878-1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People
2. The inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants.
   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
3. (plural only) People in general.
4. (plural only) A particular group of people.
   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. […]” 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest
5. (plural only, plural: folks) One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.
6. (music) Short for folk music.

adj

1. Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a land, their culture, tradition, or history.
2. Of or pertaining to common people as opposed to ruling classes or elites.
3. (architecture) Of or related to local building materials and styles.
4. Believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous.
   folk psychology; folk linguistics