ilk

[prettygoodword]

ilk - n., type or kind. pron., (Scot.) same.


The pronoun usage throws me -- quote American Heritage: "Used following a name to indicate that the one named resides in an area bearing the same name: Duncan of that ilk." I'd still call that a noun, but I'm hardly a trained linguist. In any case, ilk is from Old English ilca, in the pronominal sense, the same thing.Other IE languages have cognates of that ilk.

---L.

Comments

[azhdragon.livejournal.com]

that's a really weird example usage.

I always hear ilk in such situations as "Duncan and others of his/that ilk", and meaning people of a similar type (geeks, nerds, racerboys, hoons, whatever) and not merely people from a limited geographic area.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

It is a very werid example usage, and I'm not sure I understand grammatically what's going on. I've only heard the usage you give.

---L.