different between customs vs taboo

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?st?mz/

Etymology 1

Plural of custom. Perhaps influenced by or taken as a corruption of customhouse, from Middle English custome hous.

Noun

customs (plural customs)

1. (in the plural) The duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods.

2. (in the singular) The government department or agency that is authorised to collect the taxes imposed on imported goods.

Derived terms

• customs declaration
• customs duty

Translations

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

customs

1. plural of custom

Verb

customs

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of custom

English

Alternative forms

• tabu, tapu

Etymology

Borrowing from Tongan tapu (“prohibited, sacred”), from Proto-Polynesian *tapu, from Proto-Oceanic *tabu, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *tambu. Doublet of kapu. The word entered English around 1777.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??bu?/, /tæ?bu?/

Noun

taboo (countable and uncountable, plural taboos)

1. An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.
   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, p. 213:

     The sharp differentiation of the sexes in our culture was shaped most probably by monogamy and monosexuality and their tabus.

2. (in Polynesia) Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.

Translations

Adjective

taboo (comparative more taboo, superlative most taboo)

1. Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

   Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.

2. Culturally forbidden.

Translations

Verb

taboo (third-person singular simple present taboos, present participle tabooing, simple past and past participle tabooed)

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

Translations

Anagrams

• aboot