Lidových

Lidových is the genitive plural form of the Czech adjective lidový, which means "folk" or "of the people." It is not a stand-alone noun, but a grammatical form used to modify nouns in phrases that refer to tradition, culture, or things associated with ordinary people. In practice, lidových appears in contexts describing folk tradition or ethnographic subjects, as well as in everyday expressions.

In usage, lidový denotes characteristics tied to traditional or regional culture rather than to formal or elite spheres. It is commonly paired with nouns such as písně, obyčeje, tance, kultura, or řemesla to produce terms like lidové písně (folk songs), lidové obyčeje (folk customs), lidové tance (folk dances), lidová kultura (folk culture). The genitive plural form lidových often appears before a noun in phrases such as sbírka lidových písní (a collection of folk songs) or archív lidových písní (an archive of folk songs).

Lidový has historical and cultural significance in Czech and other Slavic literatures, where it is used to describe practices and artifacts preserved by communities and transmitted across generations. It contrasts with terms for formal, elite, or urban traditions, such as umění vysoké kultury or populární (popular) in a modern sense. In scholarly contexts, lidový is frequently used interchangeably with folkloristické or folklórní concepts, though the latter can carry a more specialized methodological nuance.