Taboo
Etymology
From Tongan tabu (with cognates across Polynesia), meaning “forbidden, set apart, sacred.” Captain James Cook recorded it during his Pacific voyages in 1777, and it entered English to name things prohibited by deep, often unspoken custom.
adjective · /tuh-BOO/
Prohibited or avoided by strong social or sacred convention rather than by formal rule.
What it names
The kind of ban you feel rather than read — the subject, act, or word that a community treats as off-limits, often without ever saying why.
Example
Salary was a taboo topic at family dinners, second only to politics.
Related idea
Something forbidden is banned by a rule; a taboo is prohibited by deep social or sacred feeling — gut-level and often unspoken.
See also