1. folk(n = noun.group) common people, folks - people in general (often used in the plural); "they're just country folk"; "folks around here drink moonshine"; "the common people determine the group character and preserve its customs from one generation to the next"
is a kind of people
has particulars: country people, countryfolk, gentlefolk, grass roots, home folk, rabble, ragtag, ragtag and bobtail, riffraff
2. folk(n = noun.group) tribe - a social division of (usually preliterate) people;
is a kind of social group
has particulars: phyle
3. folk(n = noun.group) family, family line, kinfolk, kinsfolk, phratry, sept - people descended from a common ancestor; "his family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower"
is a kind of ancestry, blood, blood line, bloodline, descent, line, line of descent, lineage, origin, parentage, pedigree, stemma, stock
has particulars: people, homefolk, house, dynasty, gens, name
4. folk(n = noun.communication) ethnic music, folk music - the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community;
is a kind of popular music, popular music genre
has particulars: folk ballad, folk song, folksong, schottische, c and w, country and western, country music, gospel, gospel singing, square-dance music
1. In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [1913 Webster]
"The organization of each folk, as such, sprang mainly from war." [1913 Webster]
2. People in general, or a separate class of people; -- generally used in the plural form, and often with a qualifying adjective; as, the old folks; poor folks. [1913 Webster]
"In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire
With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales." [1913 Webster]
3. The persons of one's own family; as, our folks are all well. Bartlett. [1913 Webster]
folk, n. (pl. folk or folks)
1 (treated as pl.) people in general or of a specified class (few folk about; townsfolk).
2 (in pl.) (usu. folks) one's parents or relatives.
3 (treated as sing.) a people.
4 (treated as sing.) colloq. traditional music.
5 (attrib.) of popular origin; traditional (folk art).
Idiom:
folk-dance
1 a dance of popular origin.
2 the music for such a dance. folk etymology a popular modifying of the form of a word or phrase to make it seem to be derived from a more familiar word (e.g. forlorn hope). folk memory recollection of the past persisting among a people. folk-singer a singer of folk-songs. folk-song a song of popular or traditional origin or style. folk-tale a popular or traditional story. folk-ways the traditional behaviour of a people.
Etymology:
OE folc f. Gmc
N man, mankind, human race, human species, human kind, human nature, humanity, mortality, flesh, generation, anthropology, anthropogeny, anthropography, anthroposophy, ethnology, ethnography, humanitarian, human being, person, personage, individual, creature, fellow creature, mortal, body, somebody, one, such a one, some one, soul, living soul, earthling, party, head, hand, dramatis personae, quidam, people, persons, folk, public, society, world, community, community at large, general public, nation, nationality, state, realm, commonweal, commonwealth, republic, body politic, million, population, tribe, clan (paternity), family (consanguinity), cosmopolite, lords of the creation, ourselves, human, mortal, personal, individual, national, civic, public, social, cosmopolitan, anthropoid, am I not a man and a brother?.
folk art, folk ballad, folk dance, folk dancer, folk dancing, folk etymology, folk hero, folk lore, folk music, folk poet, folk singer, folk song, folk tale, folk writer, home folk