What does fork mean?
A fork is one of the most familiar objects in daily life: a handled implement with two or more slender prongs, or tines, used chiefly for eating and serving food. The word also names related tools, from the gardener's fork to the farmer's pitchfork, and extends metaphorically to any point where something splits in two — most famously 'the fork in the road', which carries a rich figurative weight about choices and diverging paths. As a verb, fork can mean to pierce or lift food, to dig or turn soil, or — informally and often grudgingly — to hand over money, as in 'he had to fork out £200 for repairs'. Chess players know yet another sense, where a single piece 'forks' two opponents at once. Few everyday words span so neatly from the dinner table to decision-making, making fork both practical and quietly poetic.
An implement with a handle and two or more prongs, used for eating, serving, cooking, or farm and garden work.
"Set the table with a knife and fork for each guest."
The table fork typically has four tines; older designs had two or three.
To pierce, lift, or convey something with a fork; to dig or turn soil with a fork; to divide into two branches (of roads or rivers); or, informally, to pay out money.
"Fork the soil over well before planting the potatoes."
Regular plural; also used of road or river forks, where 'the forks' may refer to a junction.
"We don't have enough clean forks for six guests."
For centuries, polite Europe considered the fork an scandalous, even sinful, novelty — fingers were deemed the proper way to eat.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fork
Fork traces back to the Latin furca, meaning a two-pronged implement or forked prop, which passed into Old English as forca. The eating fork is a surprisingly late arrival: though known in antiquity, it only became common at Western European tables in the early modern period, having spread from Byzantium through Italy. The same Latin root gives English the adjective furcate and compounds such as bifurcate, while furcula is the anatomical name of a bird's fused collarbones — the wishbone — literally its 'little fork'.
Related word forms
How fork is actually used
As a verb meaning to pay money, 'fork over/out/up' is informal and often conveys reluctance at parting with cash. The chess sense of 'fork' is standard within chess terminology but unfamiliar outside it. In British usage, 'fork out' and 'fork up' are both common; American usage favours 'fork over'.
Easily confused with fork
A spork is a hybrid utensil combining a spoon's bowl with a fork's tines, whereas a fork has only prongs and no bowl.