folkway

Syllables: folk·way/ˈfəʊkweɪ/US/ˈfoʊkˌweɪ/

folkway noun: a belief or custom common to members of a culture or society.

Noun

folkway (plural folkways)

(in plural, often) A belief or custom common to members of a culture or society.
- He [Van Wyck Brooks] had opposed to the folkways the standard of the humanistic life. It was needful that he continue to affirm that standard by making it visible in his own spiritual manner, by living boldly, dangerously, in the fashion of the artist, by giving himself to life as men in America...1924, Paul Rosenfeld, “Van Wyck Brooks”, in Port of New York: Essays on Fourteen American Moderns, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section V, page 53
- By the time you are grown up and can consider the folk-ways of your childhood with detached impersonality, you have forgotten what was of most value. Rarely will a child tell frankly of his lore, and rarely can an adult remember.1925, Dorothy Scarborough, assisted by Ola Lee Gulledge, “Children’s Game-songs”, in On the Trail of Negro Folk-songs, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford...

He [Van Wyck Brooks] had opposed to the folkways the standard of the humanistic life.1924, Paul Rosenfeld, “Van Wyck Brooks”, in Port of New York: Essays on Fourteen American Moderns, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and...
He must learn its language and literature, interest himself in the upbuilding of its home, and seek to adjust its traditions and folkways and religious thought to the wants of his time.1928 February, Solomon Goldman, “A Rabbi Takes Stock”, in The Menorah Journal, volume XIV, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Intercollegiate...
For years I've hoped that some enterprising editor would hire a hillbilly to go to the city and write his impressions of the quaint folkways of the cliff dwellers.1937 April, Anthony Gish, “Yes, I’m a Hillbilly”, in Arnold Gingrich, editor, Esquire: The Magazine for Men, volume VII, number 4 (number...
It [a social institution] is a folkway, always new yet ever old, directive and responsive, a spur to and a check upon change, a creature of means and a master of ends.1973, A[lfred] R[eginald] Radcliffe-Brown, “On Function and Social Institutions”, in Ephraim H[arold] Mizruchi, editor, The Substance of...

From folk + way.

What does folkway mean?: Folkway means a belief or custom common to members of a culture or society.
How do you use folkway in a sentence?: He [Van Wyck Brooks] had opposed to the folkways the standard of the humanistic life.
What part of speech is folkway?: Folkway is a noun.
How do you pronounce folkway?: Folkway is pronounced /ˈfəʊkweɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of folkway?: The plural of folkway is folkways.

Adapted from Wiktionary: folkway (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-folkway.wav.

Cite this entry: “folkway.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/folkway. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.