shibboleth

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a slogan, belief, or custom strongly associated with a group, especially one repeated after it has lost much of its original force or truth

   The movement kept repeating old shibboleths instead of answering the new criticism.

2. 2
   noun

   a word, pronunciation, behavior, or custom used to distinguish members of a group from outsiders

   The local pronunciation of the town's name served as a shibboleth among longtime residents.

Simplified etymology

Shibboleth is a Hebrew word meaning “ear of corn” or “stream in flood.” In the biblical Book of Judges, its pronunciation was used to distinguish Gileadites from Ephraimites; English consequently adopted it in the mid-17th century for a word that identifies outsiders, later extending it to a belief or custom that marks a group.

A learned borrowing from Biblical Hebrew shibboleth ('stream' or 'ear of grain'). In Judges 12, Gileadites used its pronunciation to distinguish fleeing Ephraimites, who pronounced it differently. English generalized the episode into a word for an identifying test, then for a group's characteristic or outworn slogan.

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