Is potluck a word frequently used in the US? If not, what's the regular way of saying it?

In the US Midwest, “Potluck” is the normal term for a party where guests bring food to share with everyone at the party. I know that I’ve heard other terms for this from other areas, but I can’t remember any off the top of my head.

Grew up in Texas, and “potluck” is absolutely the standard term.

I literally just had a potluck.  I didn't see a comment describing the "luck" part of potluck. Typically (for me, at least), for a get-together, people will have an assigned dish. The host provides the meat dish and then people will be assigned a dish to bring like bring a salad, or bread, or a green vegetable.  In a potluck, however, people bring whatever they want without an assignment from the host. So you might get three desserts and no salad. It's kind of a game to see how the meal turns out. It's also an opportunity for those who like to try new things, to bring a new recipe they want to try out on a group. So, for example, someone brought kohlrabi (not a common dish) to see how everyone liked it.

In the Upper Midwest, when going to a potluck, one often brings a hot dish (casserole).

In my area (western Canada), it's also worth knowing that "potluck" is usually a noun. People will understand if you say "I'm potlucking this weekend", but the more natural way to say it is "I'm going to a potluck (or a potluck dinner / a potluck supper, etc.) this weekend."

Yes, potluck is a very commonly used word for a gathering where each guest brings a dish to share.

I haven't seen any comments that touch it, but just in case, 'potlatch' is also a similar word for a similar tradition but of totally unrelated indigenous American origin.  You sometimes see the works mixed up or confused depending on where you are in the US. It's just a total coincidence that words overlap, like Possum and Opossum.

Potluck is a common word to describe a get together where everyone brings a dish to share with the rest of the group.

Yes. Here’s a fun factoid about the folk history of this term. Imagine a Medieval inn, in a region where the economy was largely traded goods, as much as cash or coin. The way that travelers would pay for their bed for the night, often, was to provide some food to the inn, and the inn would cook it, and throw it into a big pot of stew, full of all the other food that all the other guests brought. What kinds of food? Whatever they foraged or hunted that day. How would it taste? That depended on luck, what else was in the pot. That’s a potluck.

Potluck is a pretty frequently used word and I can't think of any other single word to use for what a potluck is.

The word, in it’s current context, originated from North America

A common word in US and Canada. Everyone uses it in North America. I can't think of another word with the same meaning.

I haven't seen anybody answer the second part of the question about pronunciation. It's just like the two words separately: "pot" and "luck", with the accent on "pot". POTluck.

"Potluck" is the normal, and, as far as I know, only, term for it.

Yes, very common.

England here - I’ve heard potluck used for the situation you described, but only on Reddit by Americans/Canadians. We’d just tell people to bring something. We use potluck to describe the chance of something happening however!

like a lot of people have said, it's very common, and pretty much everyone would know what it meant. however... among young adults who have parties and bbq's with lots of alcohol and loud music, i can't recall ever hearing those being called potlucks, even though many times they are literally potlucks, with guests expected to bring alcohol or snacks to contribute.

Extremely common in Canadian English.

I literally know of no other word for a potluck. A few words or sentence yes, but a single word? I’m curious, is there another word for this anywhere in the English speaking world? (I’m Canadian)

PNW English speaker—common for me.

Very common on the east coast US as well. My mom would even sometimes jokingly say it was 'potluck night' when she was sick or didn't feel like cooking. Basically it meant that everyone was responsible for making their own food that night.

As far as I know 'potluck' is only used in the US.

'We are having a potluck on Friday, so I need to stop at the store and pick up something to bring" Is a very normal thing to say.

Very common. Pretty much the standard term for that kind of gathering.

Thank you everyone! Your input was very helpful!

Yes. Common in the US.

UK here, maybe to provide another angle. where i am, ‘potluck’ would definitely be the correct term, but i’ve literally never seen it happen. not once. i don’t think it’s really a thing in my area.