In the context of software development and version control systems like Git, a fork is a copy of a repository that allows you to freely experiment with changes without affecting the original project. Forks are commonly used in open-source development to propose changes to a project or to create a new project based on an existing one.
When you fork a repository, you create a separate copy of the project under your GitHub account (or other hosting service). This copy includes all the files, commit history, and branches from the original repository. You can then make changes to your fork, such as adding new features or fixing bugs, without affecting the original project.