folk
/foʊk/noun, adjective
folk is spelled F-O-L-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, folk means “People, persons” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of folk is folks.
How many letters and syllables are in folk?
| Letters | 4: F-O-L-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,934th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is folk?
Folk appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce folk?
- UK /fəʊk/
- US /foʊk/
- US /foʊlk/
Folk has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-folk.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with folk
Also written: volk.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with folk?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as folk from its last stressed vowel (/oʊk/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of folk
- folks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does folk mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA people; a tribe or nation; 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!
- 2
People, persons.
There were a lot of folk in the streets.
- 3
One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.
I need to call my folks back home.
- 4
Ellipsis of folk music.
adjective
- 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
Of or related to local building materials and styles.
- 4
Believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically or ideologically correct or rigorous.
folk psychology; folk linguistics
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Folk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does folk come from?
From Middle English folk, from Old English folc, from Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-gós, from *pleh₁- (“to fill”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).