incest
n. uncountablen. sexual activity between people who are very closely related in a family. Most societies have laws and strong social rules against this behavior.
n. sexual relations between individuals who are closely related by blood or kinship. Usually carries significant legal and social taboos across most cultures.
The law strictly forbids incest.
Many ancient myths explore the tragic consequences of incest within royal families to illustrate moral lessons.
Anthropologists have long studied the universal nature of the taboo against incest, noting how it shapes kinship structures and inheritance laws across disparate civilizations.
Learned borrowing from Latin incestus. Displaced Old English mǣġhǣmed (literally “relative-sex”). Doublet of inchaste.
Uncountable in its general sense; often used in legal or sociological contexts.