Fork
A fork is a change to a blockchain's rules; in a hard fork the network splits into two chains if not everyone agrees to the new rules.
Explained simply
A blockchain has no management ordering updates. Rule changes must be adopted voluntarily by the nodes. A soft fork is backwards compatible, old software keeps running. A hard fork is not.
If not everyone adopts the new rules in a hard fork, two chains run in parallel from that block on, with a shared past and separate futures. Holders then own coins on both chains.
From the familiar world
A club splitting: some members want to change the articles, the others do not. In the end there are two clubs with the same history that go their separate ways from now on.
An example
In 2017 Bitcoin Cash split off from Bitcoin because one group wanted larger blocks. Both chains exist to this day; Bitcoin has remained many times larger.
Why it matters
Forks explain why several "Bitcoin" variants exist and how blockchains evolve at all. For clients the key point is: the market decides which chain keeps the name and the value.
To pass on
„A fork is a club splitting: same history, two paths from now on.“
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