taboo

Etymology

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

1. An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.
   So among the Alfoors of the island of Buru it is taboo to mention the names of parents and parents-in-law, or even to speak of common objects by words which resemble these names in sound. 1922, James Frazer, The Golden Bough
   The sharp differentiation of the sexes in our culture was shaped most probably by monogamy and monosexuality and their tabus. 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 213
   For a structuralist like Edmund Leach, the structure is the meaning. Genesis, for example, is about incest taboos; all the rest is noise and mystification. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 12
   Now, we assume that people who check their watches at dinner are probably trying to avoid pulling out their phones, which would be ruder and more disruptive. In other words, mass adoption killed the taboo. 2023-06-06, Kevin Roose, “Why I Can’t Bet Against Apple’s Mixed-Reality Prowess”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
2. (in Polynesia) Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.

adj

1. Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.
   Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.
2. Culturally forbidden.

verb

1. To mark as taboo.
2. To ban.
3. To avoid.