taboo
taboo Lexical Profile
taboo Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Prohibited or restricted from use, discussion, or practice by social custom or religious belief.
"Asking someone directly about their salary is considered a taboo subject in many professional settings."
• noun
A social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.
"Openly discussing mental health in the workplace has helped break down a long-standing cultural taboo."
• verb
To place under a social or religious prohibition or restriction.
"Traditional village customs strictly tabooed the hunting of certain sacred birds in the forest."
• Rhymes for taboo
Word Origin & Etymology
Introduced into English in 1777 by the explorer Captain James Cook from Tongan tabu (meaning 'consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, or unclean'), which shares a root with other Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian kapu and Māori tapu.