“Taboo” refers to a prohibition of human activity or behavior based on the belief that such behavior goes against existing cultural or social conventions, ethical standards or religious beliefs. The word was borrowed from a Polynesian language, and its first recorded use in English was by Captain James Cook in his description of his third voyage round the world in 1777. Acc…
Taboo(1,617 words)
Cite this page
Guisen TIAN, “Taboo”, in: Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, General Editor Rint Sybesma. Consulted online on 21 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2210-7363_ecll_COM_00000409>
First published online: 2015
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