Dictionary

shibboleth en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈʃɪbəlɛθ/
• /ˈʃɪbələθ/

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. A particular pronunciation or custom that is regarded as distinguishing members of a group from non-members, especially when used as a test.
   • In recent times, the correct treatment of initial h in speech has come to be regarded as a kind of shibboleth of social position. 1933, “H”, in Oxford English Dictionary:
   • He also declares that "th" is the veritable English shibboleth. He advises those Germans who cannot pronounce the sound correctly to pronounce it like "d," the symbol which he regularly uses for "th" in his lessons. 1922, Pennsylvania-German Society, The Pennsylvania-German Society, page 110:
2. A common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth.
   • 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. 2019 January 11, Tina Jordan, quoting J. K. Rowling, “Some Dos and Don’ts From Famous Writers”, in New York Times:
   • He’d begun the day’s broadcast by rattling off a standard opening monologue: “Folks, we’re live and alive, and I hope all the boys, girls, and enbies”—nonbinary people—“are having a fantastic one.” To anyone listening for shibboleths, this would have pigeonholed him as a progressive. 2025 March 17, Andrew Marantz, quoting Hasan Piker, “The Battle for the Bros”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN:
   • And many [younger conservatives] see reflexive solidarity with Israel as a shibboleth that belongs in the past, to be replaced by a more isolationalist foreign policy. 2026 May 22, Simon Montlake, “The GOP has been a pro-Israel party for decades. Is that changing”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • Yet LBJ was very much a product of the Cold War, believing its shibboleths about communist conquest being irreversible and requiring worldwide containment even when a country, such as Vietnam, that might be falling to the communists did not threaten US national interests. 2022, Gary Gerstle, chapter 2, in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order […] , New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Part I. The New Deal Order, 1930–1980:
   • I pose the iconoclastic suggestion that even at this late stage in B.R. dieselisation, rigid standardisation might be a shibboleth. 1964 May, R. & M., “What chance for an outstanding prototype?”, in Modern Railways, page 319:
   • It's about time we abandoned the bourgeois shibboleth that earning money makes you a better person.
   • The teacher says he must stick largely to the old methods and cling to the old shibboleths or he will naturally get bad results in the examination. Only much practice along the lines the examination is going to follow will insure a [success]. 1924, Modern Languages, page 112:

Forms

Coordinates

catchphrase · platitude · truism · slogan · catchword

Deriveds

shibbolethic

Relateds

dog whistle

Translations (64)

la sebbōleth (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de Erkennungszeichen (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de Chiffre (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · eo ŝiboleto (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · nl slagzin (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · nl sjibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · fi uskomus (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · fr schibboleth (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · uk шібболе́т (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · fi šibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · nl visie (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · ru та́йный паро́ль (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · lv šibolets (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de Parole (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · de Schlagwort (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · af sjibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · fi iskulause (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · la scibbōleth (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · cy siboleth (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · li sjibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de abgedroschene Ansicht (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · gl clixé (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · es doctrina anticuada (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · da shibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · be шыбалет (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · pt xibolete (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · es santo y seña (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de Schibboleth (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · nl woord (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · de Kennwort (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · pl szybolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · ro șibolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · ko 십볼렛 (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · ru шибболе́т (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · fr shibboleth (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · ga teagasc seanchaite (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · cmn 特有用語 /特有用语 (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de Unterscheidungszeichen (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · es shíbolez (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · ru шибболе́т (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · cmn 示播列 (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · la scibōleth (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · fy sjibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de Schlüsselwort (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · ca xibòlet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · ru клише́ (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · vo jibolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · nl slogan (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · vi síp-bô-lét (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · cs šibolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · nl cliché (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · nb sjibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · fr shibboleth (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · gl contrasinal (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · es contraseña (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · nl herkenningswoord (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · fr schibboleth (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · de Klischee (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · de Slogan (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · de veraltete Konvention (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · sv schibbolet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · is sjibbólet (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test) · de Plattitüde (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth) · nl wachtwoord (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)

wikidata: Q840625 · wikipedia: Vulgate