shibboleth.
A particular pronunciation or custom that is regarded as distinguishing members of a group from non-members, especially when used as a test.
Meaning & usage
A particular pronunciation or custom that is regarded as distinguishing members of a group from non-members, especially when used as a test.
A common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth.
It's about time we abandoned the bourgeois shibboleth that earning money makes you a better person.
Where this word comes from
Learned borrowing from Biblical Hebrew שִׁבֹּלֶת /שיבולת (šibbṓleṯ, “ear [of wheat] or stream, torrent”). Doublet of sebboleth and Middle English sebolech, both from Late Latin sebboleth in the Vulgate.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.