fork
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fork¹
- /fɔːk/ UK
- /fɔɹk/ US
- [fo̞ɹk] US
- /fo(ː)ɹk/
Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)k
Where it comes from
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”).
noun forks
- A utensil with spikes used to put solid food into the mouth, or to hold food down while cutting, or for serving food.
- Any of several types of pronged tools for use on farms, in fields, or in the garden or lawn, such as a smaller hand fork for weeding or a larger one for turning over the soil.
- Such a pronged tool having a long straight handle, generally for two-handed use, as used for digging, lifting, mucking, pitching, etc.
- A tuning fork.
- An intersection in a road or path where one road is split into two.
- A decision point.
-
A point where a waterway, such as a river or other stream, splits and flows into two (or more) different directions.
Opposite: confluence
- 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. a thunderbolt with three forks
- A point in time where one has to make a decision between two life paths.
- Either of the (figurative) paths thus taken.
-
Any of the pieces/versions (of software, content, or data sets) thus created.
Opposite: single source of truth, SSOT
- The launch of one or more separate software development efforts based upon a modified copy of an existing project, especially in free and open-source software.
- Any of the software projects resulting from the launch of such separate software development efforts based upon a copy of the original project. LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice.
- The splitting of the coverage of a topic (within a corpus of content) into two or more pieces. A content fork may be intentional (as from a schism about goals) or unintentional (merely from a lack of reorganizing, so far).
- Any of the pieces/versions of content thus created.
- A split in a blockchain resulting from protocol disagreements, or a branch of the blockchain resulting from such a split. 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.
- The simultaneous attack of two adversary pieces with one single attacking piece (especially a knight).
- The crotch.
- A forklift. Are you qualified to drive a fork?
- Either of the blades of a forklift (or, in plural, the set of blades), on which the goods to be raised are loaded. Get those forks tilted back more or you're gonna lose that pallet!
- 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. The fork can be equipped with a suspension on mountain bikes.
- The upper front brow of a saddle bow, connected in the tree by the two saddle bars to the cantle on the other end.
- A set of data associated with an individual file in some file systems. resource fork
- A gallows. They had run through all punishments, and just 'scaped the fork
verb forks · forking · forked
- To divide into two or more branches or copies. A road, a tree, or a stream forks.
- To spawn a new child process by duplicating the existing process. A parent process forks a child process, which in turn can fork other processes.
- To launch a separate software development effort based upon a modified copy of an existing software project, especially in free and open-source software. For various reasons, McCool's server project subsequently forked, leading to the development of the Apache Web Server.
- To create a copy of a distributed version control repository. In this model, anyone can fork an existing repository and push changes to their personal fork.
- To move with a fork (as hay or food). forking the sheaves on the high-laden cart
- To apply a fork to. forking the soil
- To kick someone in the crotch.
- To shoot into blades, as corn does. 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.
- To simultaneously attack two opposing pieces with a single attacking piece.
- Euphemistic form of fuck They were forking each other in the back room.
fork²
- /fɔːk/ UK
- /fɔɹk/ US
- [fo̞ɹk] US
- /fo(ː)ɹk/
Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)k
Where it comes from
Ultimately from Etymology 1, above, through use for various things with two or more branches. Attested in this sense from the 18th century.
noun forks · forcque
- The bottom of a sump into which the water of a mine drains.
verb forks · forking · forked · forcque
- To bale a shaft dry. Forking the water, is drawing it all out; and when it is done, they say, “the mine or the water is forked;” and “the engine is in fork.”
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: pitchfork, branch, branching, ramification, crotch, leg, ramify, separate, plate, toasting, spading, cha, pork, table, jewelry, jewel
Translations
Every language
noun pronged tool
| Español | horca, trinche |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 쇠스랑 soeseurang, 갈퀴 galkwi |
| 日本語 | 鍬 kuwa, ピッチフォーク pitchifōku |
| Português | forcado |
| Français | fourche |
| Deutsch | Gabel, Forke |
| Italiano | forcone |
| Ελληνικά | δικράνι dikráni |
| Română | furcă |
| Русский | ви́лы víly |
noun name of some river tributaries
| Italiano | tributario, immissario, affluente |
|---|---|
| Русский | рука́в rukáv |
noun figurative: point in time of making a decision
| Português | encruzilhada |
|---|
noun computer science: splitting of a process
| 日本語 | フォーク fōku |
|---|---|
| Français | fork, duplication de processus |
| Deutsch | Fork, Verzweigung |
| Italiano | esecuzione di una fork |
noun computer science: copying and separately developing a project
| 中文 | 分叉 fēnchà |
|---|---|
| Français | fork |
| Deutsch | Fork |
noun computer science: a separately developed project based upon a copy of an existing project
| Português | fork, bifurcação, ramificação |
|---|---|
| Français | embranchement |
| Deutsch | Abspaltung, Fork |
noun eating utensil
| Español | tenedor, trinche, trinchante, forqueta, pinche |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 포크 pokeu |
| 日本語 | フォーク fōku |
| 中文 | 叉子 chāzi, 叉兒 /叉儿 chār, 餐叉 cānchā |
| हिन्दी | काँटा m or कांटा kā̃ṭā |
| Kiswahili | uma |
| Português | garfo |
| Français | fourchette |
| Deutsch | Gabel |
| Italiano | forchetta |
| Ελληνικά | πιρούνι piroúni |
| Română | furculiță |
| Русский | ви́лка vílka |
| Tiếng Việt | dĩa, nĩa, xiên |
| العربية | شَوْكَة šawka, مِذْرَاة miḏrāh |
| עברית | מַזְלֵג mazlég |
noun intersection
| Español | bifurcación, palca, horqueta |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 갈림길 gallimgil |
| 日本語 | 分岐点 bunkiten |
| 中文 | 歧 qí |
| Português | bifurcação |
| Français | bifurcation, fourche |
| Deutsch | Gabelung, Verzweigung |
| Italiano | biforcazione, bivio |
| Ελληνικά | δίστρατο dístrato |
| Română | bifurcație |
| Русский | разви́лка razvílka |
noun point where a waterway splits
| 日本語 | 分水 bunsui |
|---|---|
| Português | bifurcação |
| Français | bifurcation, fourche |
| Deutsch | Gabelung, Verzweigung |
| Italiano | biforcazione, bivio, ramo |
| Ελληνικά | δίχαλο díchalo |
noun one of the parts into which anything is furcated
| Italiano | diramazione, ramificazione, biforcazione |
|---|
noun chess: simultaneous attack
| 中文 | 捉雙 /捉双 zhuōshuāng |
|---|---|
| Português | bifurcação, forquilha |
| Français | fourchette |
| Deutsch | Gabel |
| Italiano | forchetta |
| Русский | ви́лка vílka |
noun bicycle or motorcycle fork
| Español | horquilla |
|---|---|
| Français | fourche |
| Deutsch | Gabel |
| Italiano | forcella |
| Tiếng Việt | càng |
verb to divide into two or more branches
| Español | bifurcarse |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | sich gabeln |
| Italiano | biforcare |
| العربية | تَفَرَّعَ tafarraʕa, تَشَعَّبَ tašaʕʕaba |
verb computer science: to copy and separately develop a software project
| 中文 | 分叉 fēnchà |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | aufspalten, spalten |
verb computer science: to spawn a new child process
| Deutsch | gabeln, aufspalten, spalten |
|---|
verb to kick someone in the crotch
| Italiano | dare un calcio alle parti basse |
|---|
Talk about this word "fork." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fork. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. fork. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fork "fork." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fork.Cite this
@misc{fork_2026,
title = {fork},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fork},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
