folk
folks
Folk are regular people. Country folk can be suspicious of fancy city people, while city folk tend to act a little snobby toward country dwellers.
The plural form of this word, folks, is often used for groups of ordinary people. You could say that folks in New York seem more accepting of your eccentricities than the folks back home in your small town. You can also refer to your parents as your folks, or use it as an informal, friendly form of address: "Hi, folks! I'll be your waiter today." The Old English root is folc, "common people, nation, or troop."
Definitions of folk
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people in general (often used in the plural)“they're just country folk”
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synonyms:
common people, folks
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types:
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country people, countryfolk
people raised in or living in a rural environment; rustics
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gentlefolk
people of good family and breeding and high social status
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grass roots
the common people at a local level (as distinguished from the centers of political activity)
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home folk
folks from your own home town
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rabble, ragtag, ragtag and bobtail, riffraff
disparaging terms for the common people
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scum, trash
worthless people
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type of:
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people
(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively
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a social division of (usually preliterate) people
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synonyms:
tribe
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types:
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phyle
a tribe of ancient Athenians
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type of:
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social group
people sharing some social relation
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phyle
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people descended from a common ancestor
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types:
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people
members of a family line
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homefolk
the people of your home locality (especially your own family)
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house
aristocratic family line
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dynasty
a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family
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gens, name
family based on male descent
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royal family, royal house, royal line, royalty
royal persons collectively
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Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty
a European royal line that ruled in France (from 1589-1793) and Spain and Naples and Sicily
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Capetian dynasty
a Frankish dynasty founded by Hugh Capet that ruled from 987 to 1328
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Carlovingian dynasty, Carolingian dynasty
a Frankish dynasty founded by Charlemagne's father that ruled from 751 to 987
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Flavian dynasty
a dynasty of Roman Emperors from 69 to 96 including Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian
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Han, Han dynasty
imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time from 206 BC to AD 220) and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy; remembered as one of the great eras of Chinese civilization
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Hanover, Hanoverian line, House of Hanover
the English royal house that reigned from 1714 to 1901 (from George I to Victoria)
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Habsburg, Hapsburg
a royal German family that provided rulers for several European states and wore the crown of the Holy Roman Empire from 1440 to 1806
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Hohenzollern
a German noble family that ruled Brandenburg and Prussia
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House of Lancaster, Lancaster, Lancastrian line
the English royal house that reigned from 1399 to 1461; its emblem was a red rose
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Liao, Liao dynasty
the dynasty that ruled much of Manchuria and northeastern China from 947 to 1125
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Merovingian, Merovingian dynasty
a Frankish dynasty founded by Clovis I that reigned in Gaul and Germany from about 500 to 750
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Ming, Ming dynasty
the imperial dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644
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Ottoman, Ottoman dynasty
the Turkish dynasty that ruled the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century to its dissolution after World War I
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Plantagenet, Plantagenet line
the family name of a line of English kings that reigned from 1154 to 1485
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Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy
an ancient dynasty of Macedonian kings who ruled Egypt from 323 BC to 30 BC; founded by Ptolemy I and ended with Cleopatra
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Ch'in, Ch'in dynasty, Qin, Qin dynasty
the Chinese dynasty (from 246 BC to 206 BC) that established the first centralized imperial government and built much of the Great Wall
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Ch'ing, Ch'ing dynasty, Manchu, Manchu dynasty, Qing, Qing dynasty
the last imperial dynasty of China (from 1644 to 1912) which was overthrown by revolutionaries; during the Qing dynasty China was ruled by the Manchu
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Romanoff, Romanov
the Russian imperial line that ruled from 1613 to 1917
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Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
the name of the royal family that ruled Great Britain from 1901-1917; the name was changed to Windsor in 1917 in response to anti-German feelings in World War I
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Seljuk
any one of the Turkish dynasties that ruled Asia Minor from the 11th to the 13th centuries; they successfully invaded Byzantium and defended the Holy Land against Crusaders
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Shang, Shang dynasty
the imperial dynasty ruling China from about the 18th to the 12th centuries BC
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Stuart
the royal family that ruled Scotland from 1371-1714 and ruled England from 1603 to 1649 and again from 1660 to 1714
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Song, Song dynasty, Sung, Sung dynasty
the imperial dynasty of China from 960 to 1279; noted for art and literature and philosophy
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Tang, Tang dynasty
the imperial dynasty of China from 618 to 907
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House of Tudor, Tudor
an English dynasty descended from Henry Tudor; Tudor monarchs ruled from Henry VII to Elizabeth I (from 1485 to 1603)
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Omayyad, Ommiad, Umayyad
the first dynasty of Arab caliphs whose capital was Damascus
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Valois
French royal house from 1328 to 1589
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Wei, Wei dynasty
any of several imperial dynasties of China ruling from 220 to 265 and from 386 to 556
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House of Windsor, Windsor
the British royal family since 1917
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House of York, York
the English royal house (a branch of the Plantagenet line) that reigned from 1461 to 1485; its emblem was a white rose
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Mongol dynasty, Yuan, Yuan dynasty
the imperial dynasty of China from 1279 to 1368
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Chou, Chou dynasty, Chow, Chow dynasty, Zhou, Zhou dynasty
the imperial dynasty of China from 1122 to 221 BC; notable for the rise of Confucianism and Taoism
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Medici
aristocratic Italian family of powerful merchants and bankers who ruled Florence in the 15th century
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the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community
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synonyms:
ethnic music, folk music
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types:
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folk ballad, folk song, folksong
a song that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture
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schottische
music performed for dancing the schottische
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C and W, country and western, country music
a simple style of folk music heard mostly in the southern United States; usually played on stringed instruments
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gospel, gospel singing
folk music consisting of a genre of a cappella music originating with Black slaves in the United States and featuring call and response; influential on the development of other genres of popular music (especially soul)
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square-dance music
music performed for square dancing
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blues
a type of folksong that originated among Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century; has a melancholy sound from repeated use of blue notes
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fado
a sad Portuguese folksong
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doo-wop
a genre (usually a cappella) of Black vocal-harmony music of the 1950s that evolved in New York City from gospel singing; characterized by close four-part harmonies; the name derived from some of the nonsense syllables sung by the backup
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soul
a secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre in the 1960s and 1970s
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bluegrass
a type of country music played at a rapid tempo on banjos and guitars
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hillbilly music
country music originating in mountainous regions of southern United States
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zydeco
music of southern Louisiana that combines French dance melodies with Caribbean music and blues
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type of:
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popular music, popular music genre
any genre of music having wide appeal (but usually only for a short time)
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘folk'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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