fork
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: board-games
business
chess
computing
cryptocurrencies
cryptocurrency
cycling
engineering
finance
games
hobbies
lifestyle
mathematics
motorcycling
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
software
sports
Etymology: From Middle English forke (“digging fork”), from Old English force, forca (“forked instrument used to torture”), from Proto-West Germanic *furkō (“fork”), from Latin furca (“pitchfork, forked stake; gallows, beam, stake, support post, yoke”), of uncertain origin. The Middle English word was later reinforced by Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French forque (= Old French forche whence French fourche), also from the Latin. Doublet of fourche and furcate. Cognate also with North Frisian forck (“fork”), Dutch vork (“fork”), Danish fork (“fork”), German Forke (“pitchfork”). Displaced native gafol, ġeafel, ġeafle (“fork”), from Old English.
In its primary sense of “fork”, Latin furca appears to be derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerk(ʷ)-, *ǵʰerg(ʷ)- (“fork”), although the development of the -c- is difficult to explain. In other senses this derivation is unlikely. For these, perhaps it is connected to Proto-Germanic *furkaz, *firkalaz (“stake, stick, pole, post”), from Proto-Indo-European *perg- (“pole, post”). If so, this would relate the word to Old English forclas pl (“bolt”), Old Saxon ferkal (“lock, bolt, bar”), Old Norse forkr (“pole, staff, stick”), Norwegian fork (“stick, bat”), Swedish fork (“pole”).
Inflected forms:
form: forks
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: forks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: forking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: forked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: forked
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows:
pos: noun
gloss: Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows:
pos: noun
gloss: Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows:
pos: noun
gloss: Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows:
pos: noun
gloss: A fork in the road, as follows:
pos: noun
tags: physical
gloss: A fork in the road, as follows:
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: A point where a waterway, such as a river or other stream, splits and flows into two (or more) different directions.
pos: noun
gloss: One of the parts into which anything is furcated or divided; a prong; a branch of a stream, a road, etc.; a barbed point, as of an arrow.
pos: noun
tags: metonymically
examples: a thunderbolt with three forks
this fork of the river dries up during droughts
gloss: A point in time where one has to make a decision between two life paths.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: A point in time where one has to make a decision between two life paths.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
metonymically
gloss: (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
metonymically
gloss: (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice.
gloss: (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: A content fork may be intentional (as from a schism about goals) or unintentional (merely from a lack of reorganizing, so far).
gloss: (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: Known as a “fork”, the new version of bitcoin (dubbed Bitcoin XT) would support more transactions per hour, at the cost of increasing the amount of memory required to hold a full database of all the bitcoin transactions throughout history, known as the blockchain.
gloss: The simultaneous attack of two adversary pieces with one single attacking piece (especially a knight).
pos: noun
gloss: The crotch.
pos: noun
tags: UK
vulgar
gloss: A forklift.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
examples: Are you qualified to drive a fork?
gloss: Either of the blades of a forklift (or, in plural, the set of blades), on which the goods to be raised are loaded.
pos: noun
examples: Get those forks tilted back more or you're gonna lose that pallet!
gloss: In a bicycle or motorcycle, the portion of the frameset holding the front wheel, allowing the rider to steer and balance, also called front fork.
pos: noun
examples: The fork can be equipped with a suspension on mountain bikes.
gloss: The upper front brow of a saddle bow, connected in the tree by the two saddle bars to the cantle on the other end.
pos: noun
gloss: A set of data associated with an individual file in some file systems.
pos: noun
examples: resource fork
HFS+ uses forks to store file data. Generally there are two types of forks available in HFS+, the data fork and the resource fork.
gloss: A gallows.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: They had run through all punishments, and just 'scaped the fork
gloss: To divide into two or more branches or copies.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: A road, a tree, or a stream forks.
gloss: To divide into two or more branches or copies.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: A parent process forks a child process, which in turn can fork other processes.
It appears that the shell forks a copy of itself and that this copy then forks to make each of the previous processes in the pipeline.
gloss: To divide into two or more branches or copies.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: For various reasons, McCool's server project subsequently forked, leading to the development of the Apache Web Server.
Google forked WebKit to create the Blink project in April 2013 because they wanted to make larger-scale changes to WebKit to fit their own needs that did not align well with the WebKit project itself.
gloss: To divide into two or more branches or copies.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
transitive
examples: In this model, anyone can fork an existing repository and push changes to their personal fork.
gloss: To move with a fork (as hay or food).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: forking the sheaves on the high-laden cart
Brianna curbed her pang of envy as she forked her plain, low-fat, crouton-free salad niçoise into her mouth and shook her head.
gloss: To apply a fork to.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: forking the soil
They delight in combing, or rather forking it, using for that purpose a large wooden fork with four diverging prongs, which answers the purpose of separating and arranging the long tangled, frizzly mass of cranial vegetation much better than any comb could do.
gloss: To kick someone in the crotch.
pos: verb
tags: UK
transitive
gloss: To shoot into blades, as corn does.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I have known them couched up a Yard thick cover’d with an Hair-cloth and ſtirred only once a day, the Maltſer being always careful to throw the frozen outſides into the middle till the Corn begin to fork and warm in the Couch; after which time if it be not laid too thin, it will not eaſily freeze.
gloss: To simultaneously attack two opposing pieces with a single attacking piece.
pos: verb
Related words: denture
trident
a three-prong spear somewhat resembling a pitchfork
knife
spoon
Derived words: Ash Fork
barley fork
bent fork
cake fork
carving fork
chip fork
Clear Fork
cocktail fork
crab fork
cut with a knife and fork
dessert fork
digging fork
dinner fork
dung fork
dungfork
farm-to-fork
fingers were made before forks
fish fork
fondue fork
forkable
forkball
fork beam
forkbeard
fork bomb
fork buffet
fork chuck
fork dinner
forker
fork F
fork found in kitchen
forkful
fork grass
fork grinder
forkhead
fork hoe
fork in the road
fork-leaved sundew
forkless
fork lightning
forklike
forkload
fork lunch
fork luncheon
forkmaker
fork-marked lemur
fork oil
fork supper
forktail
fork-tailed bush katydid
fork-tailed flycatcher
fork-tender
fork-tongued
fork truck
forkweed
forkwise
forky
garden fork
Grand Forks
hair fork
hard fork
harpoon fork
hayfork
Hume's fork
impossible fork
knife-and-fork
knife and fork
knork
manure fork
meatfork
meat fork
military fork
Morton's fork
multifork
pastry fork
pickle fork
pie fork
pitchfork
prefork
replication fork
Roaring Fork River
Rolling Fork
royal fork
salad fork
seafood fork
shakefork
shrimp fork
silver fork novel
slave fork
soft fork
spade fork
spading fork
steak fork
terrapin fork
toasting-fork
toasting fork
tree fork
tuning fork
unfork
winnowing-fork
winnowing fork
you can't outrun your fork
dig one's grave with a fork
dig one's grave with a fork and spoon
fork off
fork out
fork over
stick a fork in something
Translations:
lang: Afrikaans
word: vurk
lang: Afrikaans
word: tuinvurk
lang: Southern Altai
word: айырмууш
roman: ayïrmuuš
lang: Southern Altai
word: айырмаш
roman: ayïrmaš
lang: Southern Altai
word: айрууш
roman: ayruuš
lang: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
word: ܡܲܫܠܝܵܐ
roman: māšlya
lang: Armenian
word: պատառաքաղ
roman: pataṙakʻaġ
lang: Azerbaijani
word: yaba
lang: Bashkir
word: һәнәк
roman: hənək
lang: Belarusian
word: ві́лы
roman: víly
lang: Breton
word: forc'h
lang: Breton
word: gaol
lang: Bulgarian
word: ви́ла
roman: víla
lang: Catalan
word: forca
lang: Catalan
word: forqueta
lang: Chechen
word: мӏара
roman: mˀara
lang: Cornish
word: forgh
lang: Cornish
word: gowl
lang: Danish
word: fork
lang: Danish
word: greb
lang: Danish
word: høtyv
lang: Dhivehi
word: އޫ
roman: ū
lang: Dutch
word: hooivork
lang: Dutch
word: mestvork
lang: Dutch
word: gaffel
lang: Esperanto
word: forkego
lang: Estonian
word: hang
lang: Estonian
word: hark
lang: Finnish
word: talikko
lang: French
word: fourche
lang: North Frisian
word: goobel
lang: North Frisian
word: Gaawel
lang: North Frisian
word: Furk
lang: West-Frisian
word: foarke
lang: Galician
word: galleta
lang: Galician
word: forcada
lang: Galician
word: galla
lang: German
word: Gabel
lang: German
word: Forke
lang: German
word: Gable
lang: Greek
word: δικράνι
roman: dikráni
lang: Ancient Greek
word: δίκελλα
roman: díkella
lang: Greenlandic
word: ajassaatit
lang: Mbya Guarani
word: kuxa rakua
lang: Hungarian
word: vasvilla
lang: Ido
word: forko
lang: Indonesian
word: garpu
lang: Interlingua
word: furca
lang: Irish
word: píce
lang: Italian
word: forcone
lang: Japanese
word: 鍬
roman: kuwa
lang: Japanese
word: ピッチフォーク
roman: pitchifōku
lang: Komi-Permyak
word: вила
roman: vila
lang: Korean
word: 쇠스랑
roman: soeseurang
lang: Korean
word: 갈퀴
roman: galkwi
lang: Kyrgyz
word: айры
roman: ayrı
lang: Latin
word: furca
lang: Latvian
word: dakša
lang: Lithuanian
word: šakės
lang: Luxembourgish
word: Gafel
lang: Macedonian
word: вила
roman: vila
lang: Maltese
word: furkettun
lang: Māori
word: tīrou
lang: Norman
word: frouque
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: gaffel
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: gaffel
lang: Dari
word: چَنْگَال
roman: čangāl
lang: Iranian Persian
word: چَنْگال
roman: čangâl
lang: Plautdietsch
word: Gaufel
lang: Polish
word: widły
lang: Portuguese
word: forcado
lang: Romagnol
word: furchèta
lang: Romanian
word: furcă
lang: Russian
word: ви́лы
roman: víly
lang: Saanich
word: J₭ELSTEN
lang: Saanich
word: TĆOŦEN
lang: Saanich
word: ŚKEXÁL¸S
lang: Saanich
word: EQIYN
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: gràpa
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: виле
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: vile
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: viljuška
lang: Sicilian
word: furca
lang: Sicilian
word: furcuni
lang: Slovak
word: vidly
lang: Sotho
word: fereko
lang: Spanish
word: horca
lang: Spanish
word: trinche
lang: Sranan Tongo
word: forku
lang: Swedish
word: grep
lang: Tarifit
word: tazzart
lang: Turkish
word: yaba
lang: Ukrainian
word: ви́ла
roman: výla
lang: Unami
word: làxaokw
lang: Walloon
word: fortchete
lang: Welsh
word: gafl
lang: Welsh
word: fforch
lang: Welsh
word: fforc
lang: Welsh
word: ffyrc
lang: Finnish
word: haara
lang: Italian
word: tributario
lang: Italian
word: immissario
lang: Italian
word: affluente
lang: Russian
word: рука́в
roman: rukáv
lang: Finnish
word: tienhaara
lang: Portuguese
word: encruzilhada
lang: Swedish
word: vägskäl
lang: Swedish
word: vägval
lang: Swedish
word: korsväg
lang: Dutch
word: afsplitsing
lang: Dutch
word: fork
lang: Finnish
word: haarakohta
lang: French
word: fork
lang: French
word: duplication de processus
lang: German
word: Fork
lang: German
word: Verzweigung
lang: Italian
word: esecuzione di una fork
lang: Japanese
word: フォーク
roman: fōku
lang: Marathi
word: फोर्क
roman: phorka
lang: Sicilian
word: furca
lang: Sicilian
word: fork
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 分叉
roman: fēnchà
lang: Czech
word: odnož
lang: Dutch
word: splitsing
lang: Finnish
word: forkki
lang: Finnish
word: forkkaus
lang: French
word: fork
lang: German
word: Fork
lang: Marathi
word: फोर्क
roman: phorka
lang: Sicilian
word: furca
lang: Sicilian
word: fork
lang: Catalan
word: bifurcació
lang: French
word: embranchement
lang: German
word: Abspaltung
lang: German
word: Fork
lang: Marathi
word: फोर्क
roman: phorka
lang: Portuguese
word: fork
lang: Portuguese
word: bifurcação
lang: Portuguese
word: ramificação
lang: Arabic
word: تَفَرَّعَ
roman: tafarraʕa
lang: Arabic
word: تَشَعَّبَ
roman: tašaʕʕaba
lang: Catalan
word: bifurcar-se
lang: Czech
word: rozbíhat se
lang: Czech
word: rozdělovat se
lang: Czech
word: rozvětvovat se
lang: Czech
word: rozdvojovat se
lang: Finnish
word: haarautua
lang: German
word: sich gabeln
lang: Italian
word: biforcare
lang: Latvian
word: sazaroties
lang: Polish
word: rozwidlać się
lang: Polish
word: rozwidlić się
lang: Slovak
word: rozdeliť sa
lang: Slovak
word: rozdvojiť sa
lang: Slovak
word: rozvetviť sa
lang: Spanish
word: bifurcarse
lang: Dutch
word: afsplitsen
lang: German
word: aufspalten
lang: German
word: spalten