folks
/foʊks/noun
folks is spelled F-O-L-K-S: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, folks means “The members of one's immediate family, especially one's parents” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in folks?
| Letters | 5: F-O-L-K-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 39 times per million words; the 2,523rd 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 folks?
Folks appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd 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 folks?
- UK /fəʊks/
- US /foʊks/
- US /foʊlks/
Folks 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-folks.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with folks?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as folks from its last stressed vowel (/oʊks/):
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).
What does folks mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The members of one's immediate family, especially one's parents
My folks visit us at Christmas.
- 2
USPeople in general; everybody or anybody.
Lots of folks like to travel during the holidays.
- 3
USrareslangThe police.
- 4
Late 19th and early 20th century migrants to California from Iowa and other parts of the Midwestern United States.
- 5
plural of folk
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does folks come from?
Coined by California historian Kevin Starr.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).