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You are here: Home / Language / What Does the Word “Taboo” Mean and Where Did the Term For Something Socially Unacceptable Come From?

What Does the Word “Taboo” Mean and Where Did the Term For Something Socially Unacceptable Come From?

March 20, 2020 by Karen Hill

If something is unacceptable, it’s considered “taboo.”

When Captain James Cook visited the Friendly Islands in 1777, he noted in his diary that the Polynesians used the word taboo to signify that a thing was forbidden.

Cook and his men carried the word to the rest of the English-speaking world.

They didn’t realize that it also means “go away,” which is what the Islanders were telling him when he landed.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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