Link Centre Dictionary

folklore

folk·lore

UK/ˈfəʊk.lɔː/ US/ˈfoʊk.lɔːɹ/ uncommon slang

noun

1.

the unwritten literature (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture

Origin

From folk + lore, coined by British writer William Thoms in 1846 to replace terms such as "popular antiquities". Thoms imitated German terms such as Volklehre (“people's customs”) and Volksüberlieferung (“popular tradition”). Compare also Old English folclar (“popular instruction; homily”) and West Frisian folkloare (“folklore”).

Phrases

  • intangible cultural heritage
  • oral tradition

Related words

Broader terms

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.