# follow
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English folwen, folȝen, folgen, from Old English folgian (“to follow, pursue”), from Proto-West Germanic *folgēn, from Proto-Germanic *fulgāną (“to follow”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈfɒləʊ/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈfɑloʊ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒləʊ
* Hyphenation: fol‧low

### Verb

follow (third-person singular simple present follows, present participle following, simple past and past participle followed)
* (ambitransitive) To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction, especially with the intent of catching.
    Synonyms: trail, tail
    Antonyms: guide, lead
    Follow that car!
    She left the room and I followed.
** 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:Ambassador Udina: The other species are scared. They've never faced anything like this before and they don't know what to do. They want us to step forward. They believe in humanity because of you. Ambassador Udina: Your ruthless pursuit of Saren and the geth, your defiance of the Council -- that's what humans are capable of! That's how we can defeat the Reapers! Ambassador Udina: The others will follow us, Shepard. They know we're their only hope. We will have a human Council with a human Chairman.
* (ambitransitive) To go or come after in a sequence.
    Synonyms: succeed; see also Thesaurus:succeed
    Antonyms: precede; see also Thesaurus:precede
    B follows A in the alphabet.
    We both ordered the soup, with roast beef to follow.
* (transitive) To carry out (orders, instructions, etc.).
    Synonym: pursue
    Follow these instructions to the letter.
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, pages 58–59:The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. […] Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.
* (transitive) To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc).
* (transitive) To understand, to pay attention to.
    Do you follow me?
* (transitive) To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person.
    I followed the incumbent throughout the election.
    My friends don't regularly follow the news.
* (social media, transitive) To subscribe to see content from an account on a social media platform.
    Antonym: unfollow
    If you want to see more of our articles, follow us on Twitter.
* (ambitransitive) To be a logical consequence of something.
    Synonym: ensue
    It follows that if two numbers are not equal then one is larger than the other.
    If you don't practise proper hygiene, illness is sure to follow.
* (transitive) To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.
** c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 256, column 2:O had I but followed the Arts.

#### Derived terms

* BYF
* DNF
* easy-to-follow
* followable
* follow along
* follow a wheel
* follow board
* followee
* follower
* follow-home
* following
* follow-me-lad
* follow my leader
* follow-on
* follow one's bliss
* follow one's heart
* follow one's nose
* follow someone to the ends of the earth
* follow someone to the ends of the world
* follow that
* follow the bee
* follow the crowd
* follow the hounds
* follow the lady
* follow the money
* follow the sun
* follow the wind
* follow-through
* follow to the grave
* follow-up
* follow up on
* unfollow

#### Related terms

* follow along
* followed by
* follow in someone's footsteps
* follow on
* follow out
* follow shot
* follow someone off a cliff
* follow suit
* follow the leader, follow-the-leader
* follow the queen
* follow through
* follow up
* hard act to follow
* soon to follow
* tough act to follow

#### Translations

Ahom: 𑜋𑜨𑜪 (choṃ)
Albanian: ndjek (sq)
Arabic: تَبِعَ (tabiʕa), اِتَّبَعَ (ar) (ittabaʕa)
Egyptian Arabic: يمشى ورا m (yémši wara), تمشى ورا f (témši wara), يتابع m (yetābeʕ), تتابع f (tetābeʕ)
Hijazi Arabic: لِحِق (liḥig)
Armenian: հետևել (hy) (hetewel)
Asturian: siguir (ast)
Bulgarian: следвам (bg) impf (sledvam)
Burmese: လိုက် (my) (luik)
Catalan: seguir (ca)
Cebuano: sunod
Cherokee: ᎠᏍᏓᏩᏕᎦ (asdawadega)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 跟 (gan$^1$), 跟埋 (gan$^1$ maai$^4$)
Mandarin: 隨 / 随 (zh) (suí); 跟隨 / 跟随 (zh) (gēnsuí)
Czech: sledovat (cs) impf
Danish: følge
Dutch: volgen (nl)
Egyptian: (šms)
Elfdalian: fya
Esperanto: sekvi
Estonian: jälitama (et)
Faroese: fylgja
Finnish: seurata (fi)
French: suivre (fr)
Galician: seguir (gl)
Georgian: მიყოლა (miq̇ola), გაყოლა (gaq̇ola)
German: folgen (de)
Alemannic German: folge
Gothic: 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (laistjan)
Greek: ακολουθώ (el) (akolouthó)
Ancient: ἕπομαι (hépomai), ἀκολουθέω (akolouthéō)
Hebrew: עקב (he)
Hiligaynon: ábat
Hindi: पीछा करना (pīchā karnā)
Hungarian: követ (hu), kísér (hu)
Icelandic: fylgja (is)
Ido: sequar (io)
Italian: seguire (it)
Japanese: 追う (ja) (ou), 従う (ja) (shitagau)
Khiamniungan Naga: théu
Khmer: តាម (km) (taam)
Khün: ᨩᩬᨾ
Kituba: landa, kulanda
Korean: 따르다 (ko) (ttareuda)
Ladino: סואִיב׳אר (swivar), סיגּיִיר, segyir
Lao: ຕາມ (tām), ນຳ (nam), ທວຍ (thuāi), ຕວຍ (tuāi), ຊອມ (sǭm)
Latgalian: saksteit
Latin: sequor (la)
Latvian: sekot
Lingala: landa
Lithuanian: sekti (lt)
Lü: ᦋᦸᧄ (tsoam), ᦑᦽ (toy), ᦎᦱᧄ (ṫaam)
Luxembourgish: follegen (lb)
Malayalam: പിന്തുടരുക (ml) (pintuṭaruka)
Maori: aruaru, whai, whaiwhai pīhau (too closely - slang)
Mòcheno: volng
Mongolian: дагах мөрдөх (dagax mördöx)
Nanai: даха- (daha-)
Norman: siéthe (Jersey)
North Frisian: fülie (Mooring dialect)
Northern Sami: čuovvut
Norwegian: følge (no)
Occitan: seguir (oc)
Old English: folgian
Old Norse: fylgja
Old Saxon: folgoian, folgon
Oromo: hordofuu
Persian: دنبال کردن (fa) (donbâl kardan)
Polish: śledzić (pl) impf, iść za impf, pójść za pf
Portuguese: seguir (pt)
Quechua: qatiy (qu), gatii
Romanian: urma (ro), urmări (ro)
Romansch: suandar
Russian: сле́довать (ru) impf (slédovatʹ), следи́ть (ru) impf (sledítʹ)
Scots: follae
Scottish Gaelic: lean
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: слије́дити impf, пра̏тити impf
Roman: slijéditi (sh) impf, prȁtiti (sh) impf
Shan: ၸွမ်း (shn) (tsáum)
Slovene: slediti (sl) impf
Somali: raacid (so)
Spanish: seguir (es)
Swahili: kufuata
Swedish: följa (sv)
Tai Dam: ꪕ꪿ꪮꪥ
Tai Nüa: ᥓᥩᥛᥰ (tsöam)
Telugu: వెంబడించు (te) (vembaḍiñcu)
Tetum: tuir
Thai: ตาม (th) (dtaam), ทยอย (th) (tá-yɔɔi)
Turkish: izlemek (tr), takip etmek (tr)
Ukrainian: слі́дувати impf (slíduvaty), сліди́ти impf (slidýty)
Urdu: پیچھا کرنا (pīchā karnā)
Vietnamese: theo (vi), đi theo
Walloon: shuve (wa)
Welsh: canlyn (cy), dilyn (cy), olhau
West Frisian: folgje
Yiddish: נאָכגיין (nokhgeyn) :

#### See also

* chase (verb)

### Noun

follow (plural follows)
* (sometimes attributive) In billiards and similar games, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it.
    a follow shot
* (social media) The act of following another user's online activity.
** 2012, Brett Petersel, Esther Schindler, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Twitter Marketing:It doesn't take too many follows to become overwhelmed with the deluge of content on Twitter.
** 2016, Brooke Warner, Green-Light Your Book:Social media is supervisual, and there's nothing more shareable than images, so this is a way to increase shares and likes and follows.

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* Wollof

## Chinese
### Alternative forms

* 科勞 / 科劳 (fo$^1$ lou$^4$)

### Etymology

From English follow or clipping of English follower.

### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): fo$^1$ lou$^4$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: fo$^1$ lou$^4$
*** Yale: fō lòuh
*** Cantonese Pinyin: fo$^1$ lou$^4$
*** Guangdong Romanization: fo$^1$ lou$^4$
*** Sinological IPA : /fɔː⁵⁵ lou̯²¹/

### Noun

follow
* (Hong Kong Cantonese, social media) follower count (Classifier: 個／个 c)

#### Synonyms

* fol (fo$^1$)
* follower (fo$^1$ lou$^4$ waa$^4$, fo$^1$ lou$^4$ aa$^4$)

### Verb

follow
* (Hong Kong Cantonese, social media) to follow

#### Synonyms

* fol (fo$^1$)

#### Related terms

* unfol (an$^6$ fo$^1$)

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from English follow.

### Pronunciation 1

* IPA: /fɔ.lɔ.wœʁ/

#### Noun

follow m (plural follows)
* (Internet) following (An account which is followed)

### Pronunciation 2

* IPA: /fɔ.lɔw/, /fɔ.lo/

#### Verb

follow
* (Internet) to follow (on Twitter and similar sites)
    Synonyms: follower, suivre, s’abonner
    Antonyms: défollow, défollower, se désabonner
** Venez me donner de la force et me follow pour suivre la campagne !Come give me strength and follow me to follow the campaign!