taboo

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• Received-Pronunciation: /təˈbuː/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /tæˈbuː/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• South-Asia: /ˈʈæ.bu/
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• South-Asia: /ʈəˈbu/
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• rhymes with -uː
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• CMU ARPABET: T AE0 B UW1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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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.

132 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: забранен (zabranen) — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Catalan: tabú — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Chinese Mandarin: 避忌的 (bìjì de) — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Chinese Mandarin: 禁忌的 (jìnjì de) — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Chinese Mandarin: 忌諱的 /忌讳的 (jìhuì de) — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Czech: tabu — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Estonian: tabu — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Finnish: tabu — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• French: tabou — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• French: taboue — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• German: tabu — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Indonesian: pantang — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Japanese: 禁忌の (kinki no) — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Japanese: 禁制の (kinsei no) — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Portuguese: tabu — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Rapa Nui: tapu — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Russian: табуи́рованный (tabuírovannyj) — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Spanish: tabú — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Sundanese: pamali — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Swahili: tambiko — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Tongan: tapu — excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention
• Albanian: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Arabic: مَحْظُورٌ اجْتِمَاعِيّ — inhibition or ban
• Armenian: տաբու (tabu) — inhibition or ban
• Azerbaijani: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Basque: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Belarusian: табу́ (tabú) — inhibition or ban
• Bulgarian: табу (tabu) — inhibition or ban
• Catalan: tabú — inhibition or ban
• Chinese Mandarin: 避忌 (bìjì) — inhibition or ban
• Chinese Mandarin: 禁忌 (jìnjì) — inhibition or ban
• Chinese Mandarin: 忌諱 /忌讳 (jìhuì) — inhibition or ban
• Czech: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Danish: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Dutch: taboe — inhibition or ban
• Esperanto: tabuo — inhibition or ban
• Estonian: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Finnish: tabu — inhibition or ban
• French: tabou — inhibition or ban
• Galician: tabú — inhibition or ban
• Georgian: ტაბუ (ṭabu) — inhibition or ban
• German: Tabu — inhibition or ban
• Greek: ταμπού (tampoú) — inhibition or ban
• White Hmong: caiv — inhibition or ban
• Hungarian: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Ido: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Indonesian: pemali — inhibition or ban
• Indonesian: pantangan — inhibition or ban
• Italian: tabù — inhibition or ban
• Italian: divieto — inhibition or ban
• Japanese: タブー (tabū) — inhibition or ban
• Japanese: 禁忌 (kinki) — inhibition or ban
• Japanese: 禁止 (kinshi) — inhibition or ban
• Javanese: ꦥꦥꦭꦶ (papali) — inhibition or ban
• Kalmyk: хөрг (xörg) — inhibition or ban
• Kikuyu: mũgiro — inhibition or ban
• Korean: 금기 (geumgi) — inhibition or ban
• Korean: 터부 (teobu) — inhibition or ban
• Latvian: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Lithuanian: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Macedonian: табу (tabu) — inhibition or ban
• Malay: pantang — inhibition or ban
• Marshallese: mo̧ — inhibition or ban
• Norwegian Bokmål: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Norwegian Nynorsk: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Persian: تابو (tâbu) — inhibition or ban
• Polish: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Portuguese: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Romanian: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Russian: табу́ (tabú) — inhibition or ban
• Serbo-Croatian: табу — inhibition or ban
• Serbo-Croatian: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Slovak: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Slovene: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Spanish: tabú — inhibition or ban
• Sranan Tongo: kina — inhibition or ban
• Sranan Tongo: trefu — inhibition or ban
• Sundanese: pamali — inhibition or ban
• Swahili: tambiko — inhibition or ban
• Swedish: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Tagalog: kabawalan — inhibition or ban
• Tok Pisin: tambu — inhibition or ban
• Tongan: tapu — inhibition or ban
• Turkish: tabu — inhibition or ban
• Ukrainian: табу́ (tabú) — inhibition or ban
• Welsh: tabŵ — inhibition or ban
• Yiddish: טאַבו (tabu) — inhibition or ban
• Catalan: tabú — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Estonian: tabu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Fijian: tabu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Finnish: tabu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Hawaiian: kapu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Italian: tabù — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Māori: tapu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Portuguese: tabu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Rapa Nui: tapu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Russian: табу́ (tabú) — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Samoan: tapu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Sicilian: tabbù — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Spanish: tabú — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Swahili: tambiko — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Tok Pisin: tambu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Tongan: tapu — in Polynesia: something which may not be used
• Chinese Mandarin: 忌諱 /忌讳 (jìhuì) — mark as taboo
• Czech: tabuizovat — mark as taboo
• Dutch: taboeïseren — mark as taboo
• Estonian: tabustama — mark as taboo
• Finnish: merkitä tabuksi — mark as taboo
• German: tabuisieren — mark as taboo
• Italian: tabuizzare — mark as taboo
• Japanese: 禁忌する (kinki suru) — mark as taboo
• Japanese: タブーにする (tabū ni suru) — mark as taboo
• Japanese: 禁止する (kinshi suru) — mark as taboo
• Russian: табуи́ровать (tabuírovatʹ) — mark as taboo
• Swahili: tambiko — mark as taboo
• Swedish: tabuera — mark as taboo
• Swedish: tabubelägga — mark as taboo
• Ukrainian: табуювати (tabujuvaty) — mark as taboo
• Chinese Mandarin: 禁止 (jìnzhǐ) — ban
• Finnish: kieltää — ban
• German: tabuisieren — ban
• Japanese: 禁止する (kinshi) — ban
• Russian: налага́ть табу́ (nalagátʹ tabú) — ban
• Swahili: tambiko — ban
• Chinese Mandarin: 忌諱 /忌讳 (jìhuì) — avoid
• Chinese Mandarin: 避免 (bìmiǎn) — avoid
• Czech: tabuizovat — avoid
• Finnish: välttää — avoid
• German: tabuisieren — avoid
• Japanese: 排斥する (haiseki suru) — avoid
• Russian: налага́ть табу́ (nalagátʹ tabú) — avoid
• Swahili: tambiko — avoid