shibboleth

English
WOTD – 22 July 2009

Etymology

From Hebrew שִׁבֹּלֶת / שיבולת‎ (šibbōlet, “ear of wheat”).[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈʃɪbəlɛθ/

Noun

shibboleth (plural shibboleths)

  1. A word, especially seen as a test, to distinguish someone as belonging to a particular nation, class, profession etc.
  2. A common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth.
    Synonyms: platitude, slogan, truism
    It's about time we abandoned the bourgeois shibboleth that earning money makes you a better person.
    • 2019 January 11, Tina Jordan, “Some Dos and Don’ts From Famous Writers”, in New York Times‎:
      Earlier this month J.K. Rowling posted some tips on her website. “I haven’t got 10 rules that guarantee success, though I promise I’d share them if I did,” she wrote. “The truth is that I found success by stumbling off alone in a direction most people thought was a dead end, breaking all the 1990s shibboleths about children’s books in the process.”

Translations

See also
  • Appendix:List of shibboleths

Further reading

References
  1. “Judges 12:5-6”, in New Jerusalem Bible, (Please provide a date or year):
    Gilead then cut Ephraim off from the fords of the Jordan, and whenever Ephraimite fugitives said, “Let me cross,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” they then said, “Very well, say Shibboleth.” If anyone said “Sibboleth”, but could not pronounce it, they would then seize him and kill him by the fords of the Jordan.
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