folkway means A belief or custom common to members of a culture or society. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
folkway is pronounced /ˈfəʊkweɪ/.
Why “folkway” is a great word
FOLKWAY — [Noun] A traditional, socially approved, but often informal norm of behavior or custom common to members of a culture or society. From folk ("people, community") + way ("manner, custom"). First attested in English in 1893. Unlike a "more" (which carries the weight of essential morality and formal sanction) or a "law" (which is codified and enforced by the state), a folkway is the soft lattice of social expectation, woven from tradition and enforced by a glance, a laugh, or a raised eyebrow. It is the unspoken rule to let elders board the bus first, the collective pause before lifting forks at a family dinner, and the specific pitch of voice one adopts in a library reading room—the quiet, daily rituals that make a community feel continuous, and whose violation brings not punishment, but the subtle, cold shock of being momentarily foreign.
Etymology
From folk + way.
noun
- A belief or custom common to members of a culture or society.“He [Van Wyck Brooks] had opposed to the folkways the standard of the humanistic life. It was needful that he continue to affirm that standard by making it visible in his own spiritual manner, by living boldly, dangerously, in the fashion of the artist, by giving himself to life as men in America had never dared give themselves. But it seems that for some reason he has shrunk from continuing the ch”