Synonyms for folk

Grammar : Noun

Spell : fohk

Phonetic Transcription : foʊk

Top 10 synonyms for folk

Other synonyms for the word folk

Définition of folk

Origin : Old English folc "common people, laity; men; people, nation, tribe; multitude; troop, army," from Proto-Germanic *folkom (cf. Old Frisian folk, Middle Dutch volc, German Volk "people"), from Proto-Germanic *fulka-, perhaps originally "host of warriors;" cf. Old Norse folk "people," also "army, detachment;" and Lithuanian pulkas "crowd," Old Church Slavonic pluku "division of an army," both believed to have been borrowed from Proto-Germanic. Old English folcstede could mean both "dwelling-place" and "battlefield."
Some have attempted to link the word to Greek plethos "multitude;" Latin plebs "people, mob," populus "people" or vulgus; OED and Klein discount this theory but it is accepted in Watkins. The plural form has been usual since 17c. Superseded in most senses by people. Old English folc was commonly used in forming compounds, such as folccwide "popular saying," folcgemot "town or district meeting;" folcwoh "deception of the public." Folk-etymology is attested from 1890.
By Folk-etymology is meant the influence exercised upon words, both as to their form and meaning, by the popular use and misuse of them. In a special sense, it is intended to denote the corruption which words undergo, owing either to false ideas about their derivation, or to a mistaken analogy with other words to which they are supposed to be related. [The Rev. A. Smythe Palmer, "Folk-Etymology," 1890]

noun person's relations, acquaintances

Example sentences :

On most Sundays doth he preach here in the nave to all sorts of folk.
Extract from : « The Armourer's Prentices » by Charlotte M. Yonge

But see the church in the hollow, and the folk who cluster in the churchyard!
Extract from : « The White Company » by Arthur Conan Doyle

But it was much that the subdued English folk appeared there at all.
Extract from : « Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II » by Charlotte Mary Yonge

The Tiverton folk saluted them, always cordially, yet each after his kind.
Extract from : « Meadow Grass » by Alice Brown

Carlow folk held up their heads when journalism was mentioned.
Extract from : « The Gentleman From Indiana » by Booth Tarkington

Folk who have sung so sweetly together should not fight thereafter.
Extract from : « The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood » by Howard Pyle

We are to treat of folk who are disagreeable, and not worse than disagreeable.
Extract from : « The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 58, August, 1862 » by Various

When he falls I shall return, and perhaps it may be sooner than folk think.'
Extract from : « Micah Clarke » by Arthur Conan Doyle

The folk on her deck seem to me to be either fighting or dancing.
Extract from : « Micah Clarke » by Arthur Conan Doyle

Now we can trot our beasts and not be smothered in other folk's dust.
Extract from : « Micah Clarke » by Arthur Conan Doyle

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019