# folk

> English word · Noun · IPA /fəʊk/ · frequency rank #4,947

## Definitions
1. A people; a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants.
2. People, persons.
3. One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.
4. Ellipsis of folk music.

## Etymology
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”).
Cognate with German Volk, Dutch volk, Swedish folk and Danish folk. Doublet of volk.

## Easily confused with
- **for** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-for)
- **fox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-fox)
- **foo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-foo)
- **foy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-foy)
- **FTL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-ftl)
- **fou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-fou)
- **full** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-full)
- **four** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-four)
- **food** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-food)
- **fuck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-fuck)
- **form** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-form)
- **foot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-foot)
- **ford** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-ford)
- **fort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-fort)
- **fool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-fool)
- **foul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-foul)
- **fork** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-fork)
- **fond** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-fond)
- **font** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-font)
- **funk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/folk-vs-funk)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ffolk`, `flok`, `fokl`, `folkk`, `follk`, `oflk`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/folk