different between taboo vs speakable

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

English

Etymology

speak +? -able

Adjective

speakable (not comparable)

1. That can be spoken; utterable, verbalizable.
2. Acceptable as a topic of discussion; not subject to taboo.
   • 2004, Robert I. Yufit, David Lester, Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention of Suicidal Behavior

     Once the group knows that suicide is a speakable topic […]

   • 2016, Major Kwark in Ratchet and Clank (film), 75m

     Arrest this man for his speakable crimes against the galaxy.

3. (obsolete) Capable of speech.