Word.ws English Dictionary

tapu

/ˈtɑːpuː/

tapu is the alternative form of taboo.

Meaning of taboo

Noun

taboo (countable and uncountable, plural taboos)

  1. An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.
    • It is true indeed that a taboo - in order to be a proper taboo - must not rest in the general mind on argument or reason.1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 194
  2. Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.

See all 7 meanings of taboo

Antonyms of tapu

Forms of tapu

Noun
pluraltapus
Verb
third-person singular presenttapus
present participletapuing
past participletapued
pasttapued

Origin of tapu

Borrowed from Māori tapu. Doublet of kapu.

Questions about tapu

What is tapu the alternative form of?
Tapu is the alternative form of taboo.
How do you pronounce tapu?
Tapu is pronounced /ˈtɑːpuː/.

Words near tapu in the dictionary

  1. taptastic
  2. Taptee
  3. Tapti
  4. Tapton
  5. Tapty
  6. tapu
  7. Tapuata
  8. Tapucan
  9. tapued
  10. tapuing
  11. tapul

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tapu (page history and authors); taboo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “tapu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tapu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.