taboo
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
taboo
- /təˈbuː/ UK
- /tæˈbuː/ UK
- /ˈʈæ.bu/ South Asia
- /ʈəˈbu/ South Asia
Rhymes with -uː
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Tongan tapu (“prohibited, sacred”), from Proto-Polynesian *tapu, from Proto-Oceanic *tabu, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *tambu. Doublet of kapu. First attested in c. 1777.
The p in the Tongan source was misheard as b.
noun taboos · tabu · tapu
- An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion. It is true indeed that a taboo - in order to be a proper taboo - must not rest in the general mind on argument or reason.
- Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.
adjective more taboo · most taboo · tabu · tapu
- Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention. Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.
- Culturally forbidden.
verb taboos · tabooing · tabooed · tabu · tapu
- To mark as taboo.
- To ban or prohibit. They lunched, but if the subject of Carrados had been tabooed the meal would have been a silent one.
- To avoid.
