folk hero

folk hero

See also: folk-hero

English

Alternative forms

• folk-hero

Noun

folk hero (plural folk heroes)

1. A real or mythical person who is widely revered by ordinary people, for championing their interests, values, or aspirations.
   • 1966 June 10, "Vocational Education: Cowhand School," Time:

     That hallowed American folk hero, the lean cowboy with six-gun at hip, swinging smoothly into the saddle—somehow he never had to go to school to learn that stuff.

   • 1996, Robin Morgan, Sisterhood is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology, ISBN 9781558611603, p. 571 (Google preview):

     Deuladeu Martins is a woman folk-hero dating from the 12th century; she is thought of as a hugely tall and strong woman whose actions were so feared by invaders that, because of her, the country of Portugal itself came into being.

   • 2012 August 18, Lawrence Downes, "As Woody Turns 100, We Protest Too Little," New York Times (retrieved 16 April 2013):

     The American folk hero Woody Guthrie will be honored at the Kennedy Center, but rabble-rousing, not respectability, was his goal.

Translations

real or mythical person widely revered by ordinary people

Arabic: بطل شعبي ‎ Chinese: Mandarin: 民族英雄 (zh) (mínzú yīngxióng)

Finnish: kansansankari Russian: наро́дный геро́й m (naródnyj gerój)

See also

• culture hero

References

• folk hero at OneLook Dictionary Search