tabu
Portuguese, noun/taˈbu/
tabu is spelled T-A-B-U (4 letters) and appears 4.1 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 14,093rd most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Tabu is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “taboo (cultural inhibition or ban)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “medo ou proibição de origem religiosa ou social”.
What does tabu mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinetaboo (cultural inhibition or ban)
quebrar um tabu
adjective
- 1
taboo (culturally forbidden from use, approach or mention)
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. medo ou proibição de origem religiosa ou social 2. assunto de que não se pode ou não se deve falar
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of tabu
- tabus plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce tabu?
- Brazil /taˈbu/
- Portugal /taˈbu/
- Portugal [taˈβu]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to tabu
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is tabu in Portuguese?
tabu appears 4.1 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).