anti-folk

noun

A style of music derived from folk music but with a self-mocking or ironic twist.

Meanings

nounanti-folk (uncountable)

alternative antifolk

  1. uncountableA style of music derived from folk music but with a self-mocking or ironic twist.
    1 more example

    Largely an underground movement, anti-folk is a marriage of folk and punk rock, which looks to such artists as Woody Guthrie, Joey Ramone, and Dock Boggs for uniquely blended results. It largely, but not patently, rejects pop-infused folk. It appears to have first surfaced in the mid-eighties in the East Village of downtown New York City.

    2010, Stephanie P. Ledgin, Discovering Folk Music, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 60

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énti
  4. Ancient Greekᾰ̓ντῐ́ (ăntĭ́)
  5. Ancient Greekἀντι- (anti-)
  6. Englishanti-
  7. Proto-Germanic*fulkaz
  8. Proto-Germanic*fulką
  9. Proto-West Germanic*folk
  10. Old Englishfolc
  11. Middle Englishfolk
  12. Englishfolk
  13. Englishanti-folk

From anti- + folk.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

anti-folk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anti-folk

MLA

“anti-folk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anti-folk. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anti-folk,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anti-folk.

Source: anti-folk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.