fisherfolk

English

WOTD – 21 November 2022

Etymology

Fisherfolk (sense 1) on the south coast of Java in 1931.

From fisher (“person who catches fish, especially for a living or for sport”) +‎ folk; compare fisherman.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪʃəfəʊk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪʃɚˌfoʊk/
• Hyphenation: fish‧er‧folk

Noun

fisherfolk (countable and uncountable, plural fisherfolks)

1. People who fish for a living.
   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 40:

     Sir Walter Scott used Auchmithie as the model for his 'Musselcrag' in The Antiquary. The artist William Lamond spent 40 summers in the village, and painted scenes of Auchmithie and its fisherfolk.

2. (anthropology) Members of a culture that is dominated by fishing.
3. Recreational fishers.
   • 2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 69:

     Every year Grey Nomad migration sees the little Gulf town of Karumba stretched creaseless with sunbirds and fisherfolk.

Related terms

• fisher
• fisheress
• fisherman
• fisherperson
• fisherwoman

Translations

people who fish for a living

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漁民 / 渔民 (zh) (yúmín)

• Finnish: kalastajat pl, kalastajakansa
• Japanese: 漁民 (ja) (ぎょみん, gyomin)

members of a culture that is dominated by fishing

• Finnish: kalastajakansan jäsen

Further reading

• fisherman on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “fisher-folk, n.” under “fisher, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022.