Taboo

A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people. Such prohibitions are present in virtually all societies. Taboos may be prohibited explicitly, for example within a legal system or religion, or implicitly, for example by social norms or conventions followed by a particular culture or organization.

thumb|Sign at a Rite Aid drugstore using common euphemisms for (from top): |alt=A yellow sign with a pointed bottom. At the top is the number 5 in an oval with a blue background. Below it are the words "family planning", "feminine hygiene", "feminine protection" and "sanitary protection"

book by Sigmund Freud

meat prepared from domestic cats for human consumption

thumb|right|Konstantin Makovsky, The Bulgarian Martyresses, 1877. Depicts [[bashibazouks of the Ottoman Empire violating adherents of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church inside one of its churches.]] Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical, it is often called desecration. In a more general sense, any transgression against what is seen as the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege, and so is comin

cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons in China and neighboring nations in the ancient Chinese cultural sphere

substances considered taboo in certain cultures or religions

Deadnaming is the act of calling a transgender or non-binary person by their birth name or other former forename (their 'deadname') after they have chosen a new name. Many transgender people change names as part of gender transition, and wish for their former name to be kept private.

thumb|Awareness raising through education is taking place among young girls to modify or eliminate the practice of chhaupadi in Nepal. Chhaupadi ( ) is a form of menstrual taboo which prohibits women and girls from participating in normal family activities while menstruating, as they are considered "impure". Chhaupadi is said to be practiced primarily in the western part of Nepal, but the same is true for city dwellers also. It is practiced all over the country with different names and practiced in different ways.

Chinese tradition to give post-partum rest to the mother

cultural aspects surrounding how society views menstruation

Polynesian traditional concept denoting something holy or sacred

A ''''' or '' (pl. ') is an idiosyncratic taboo, whether of obligation or prohibition, similar to being under a vow or curse, yet the observance of which can also bring power and blessings. The word "geas" is also used to mean specifically a spell prohibiting some action. '''' occur commonly in Irish and Scottish folklore and mythology, as well as in modern English-language fantasy-fiction.

A cultural aspect of human societies in which sexual activity with relatives is forbidden

meat from rat

taboo involving restrictions on language

wide range of cultural prohibitions

Japanese social taboo

restrictions on the consumption of pork for religious reasons

Japanese societal customs barring women from sacred places

language

special language used in Papua New Guinea to avoid using mundane speech in the presence of the staple food plants in the genus Pandanus

thumb|Portuguese mariner Bartolomeu Dias named the ("cape of the storms") in southern Africa but the king [[John II of Portugal renamed it ("cape of good hope").|alt=A cape and a beach seen from above.]] A noa-name is a word that replaces a taboo word, generally out of fear that the true name would anger or summon the force or being in question. The term derives from the Polynesian concept of Noa, which is the antonym of Tapu (from which derives the word taboo) and serves to lift the tapu from a person or object.

marriage of people with the same surname, esp. in Asia

sociolinguistic phenomena

thumb|A partially-eaten plate of Indian food. The food on the plate is called Uchchhishta (noun). The plate is said to be Uchchhishta (adjective). Uchchhishta (, , ), known by various regional terms, is an Indian and a Hindu concept related to the contamination of food by saliva. Though the term has various meanings and has no exact parallel in English, it is generally translated in English as "leftovers" or "leavings", but with a denigratory aspect. Uchchhishta frequently denotes the food scraps remaining after a person has eaten. In a broader sense, it refers to the contamination of a food o

taboo of the sea in Indian culture