Taboo is a sociocultural prohibition on some act, person, place, animal, or plant . Public knowledge of the violation of a taboo often results in severe sanctions.
Taboo is an anthropological term for behavior that is forbidden by a culture. Usually has magical or religious associations, but often used in a wider context for any important social prohibition. In psychoanalysis it often refers to the repression of socially unacceptable sexual impulses, like incest.