folklore

[fohk-lawr, -lohr]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR folklore ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of a people.

the study of such lore.

a body of widely held but false or unsubstantiated beliefs.

Origin of folklore

1846; folk + lore¹; coined by English scholar and antiquary William John Thoms (1803–85)

Related formsfolk·lor·ist, nounfolk·lor·is·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for folklore

custom, wisdom, myth, superstition, legend, fable, mythology, tradition, ballad, mythos

Examples from the Web for folklore

Contemporary Examples of folklore

“British folklore has this very inextricable link to nature and the elements,” he told The Daily Beast.
Gareth Pugh's Fashion Show Lacked Fashion, But Not Passion
Justin Jones
September 5, 2014
The tomb-raiders are more terrified of the folklore spirits than they are of authorities that might catch them, he added.
Egyptian Tomb-Robbing Market Explodes on eBay
Bel Trew
May 31, 2014
“That became part of the folklore of the World Trade Center,” the cop noted.
Hero or Criminal? James Brady, the WTC Ironworker Who Jumped Off the Building
Michael Daly
March 25, 2014
Yes, as a figure, “Santa Claus” has his roots in early Christian Europe, Dutch folklore, and Germanic paganism.
Yes, Megyn Kelly, Santa Can Be Black (and Jesus, Too)
Jamelle Bouie
December 12, 2013
The Japan Times on March 6, 2010, reported that in folklore the fish comes to the beach as an omen of an earthquake.
Fishy Mystery: Are Beached Oarfish Trying to Tell Us Something?
Kevin Bailey
October 23, 2013

Historical Examples of folklore

In this same connection may be named other items of folklore related by Mr. Dyer.
Storyology
Benjamin Taylor
Some of them are even comic characters, like the devil in Scottish folklore.
The Legacy of Greece
Various
This cruder belief is more familiar in the folklore of Europe than the other.
The Science of Fairy Tales
Edwin Sidney Hartland
In Folklore, however, the word is used in a different and wider sense.
The Science of Fairy Tales
Edwin Sidney Hartland
The barghest has a kinsman in the Rongeur d'Os of Norman folklore.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3
Various

British Dictionary definitions for folklore

folklore

noun

the unwritten literature of a people as expressed in folk tales, proverbs, riddles, songs, etc

the body of stories and legends attached to a particular place, group, activity, etcHollywood folklore; rugby folklore

the anthropological discipline concerned with the study of folkloric materials

Derived Formsfolkloric, adjectivefolklorist, noun, adjectivefolkloristic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for folklore

1846, coined by antiquarian William J. Thoms (1803-1885) as an Anglo-Saxonism (replacing popular antiquities) and first published in the "Athenaeum" of Aug. 22, 1846, from folk + lore. Old English folclar meant "homily."

This word revived folk in a modern sense of "of the common people, whose culture is handed down orally," and opened up a flood of compound formations, e.g. folk art (1892), folk-hero (1874), folk-medicine (1877), folk-tale/folk tale (1850; Old English folctalu meant "genealogy"), folk-song (1847), folk singer (1876), folk-dance (1877).

folklore in Culture

folklore

Traditional stories and legends, transmitted orally (rather than in writing) from generation to generation. The stories of Paul Bunyan are examples of American folklore.