taboo

pronunciation

How to pronounce taboo in British English: UK [təˈbuː]word uk audio image

How to pronounce taboo in American English: US [təˈbuː] word us audio image

  • Noun:
    a prejudice (especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands) that prohibits the use or mention of something because of its sacred nature
    an inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion
  • Verb:
    declare as sacred and forbidden
  • Adjective:
    excluded from use or mention
    forbidden to profane use especially in South Pacific islands

Word Origin

taboo (adj.)
also tabu, 1777 (in Cook's "A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean"), "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed," explained in some English sources as being from Tongan (Polynesian language of the island of Tonga) ta-bu "sacred," from ta "mark" + bu "especially." But this may be folk etymology, as linguists in the Pacific have reconstructed an irreducable Proto-Polynesian *tapu, from Proto-Oceanic *tabu "sacred, forbidden" (compare Hawaiian kapu "taboo, prohibition, sacred, holy, consecrated;" Tahitian tapu "restriction, sacred;" Maori tapu "be under ritual restriction, prohibited"). The noun and verb are English innovations first recorded in Cook's book.

Example

1. I didn 't think masturbation was taboo any more .
2. After the second world war the far-right was taboo in much of europe .
3. Taboo topics tend to make people feel uneasy .
4. But there may have been another reason - his son 's taboo love affair with american culture .
5. Not for talking about sodomy-that taboo seems to be fading fast-but for doubting that women love it .

more: >How to Use "taboo" with Example Sentences