- 1
A shibboleth, in the way you will meet it now, is an old idea, custom, or rule that some people still to, even though it no longer fits the times. A boss who says “we have always done it this way” is repeating a shibboleth. A school rule that made sense fifty years ago but now only gets in the way can be called one too. The word is rather formal and a little sharp: when you name something a shibboleth, you are usually saying it should be dropped. Though actually, it has a famous older story. English borrowed it from Biblical Hebrew, where shibboleth meant an ear of wheat, or a stream. In the Bible story, people were asked to say that word, and enemies who could not make the “sh” sound were caught. From that, English first used shibboleth for a password or a saying that showed which group you belonged to. The “outdated principle” meaning grew out of that: a slogan the group keeps saying long after it has stopped being useful. You do not need the Bible story to use the modern word, but it explains why such an odd word exists.
過時教條、陳規（不是「口令」；那是較舊的聖經用法）
組成A learned borrowing from Biblical Hebrew shibboleth, “ear of wheat” or “stream.” English took it through the Bible story; it does not split into English pieces.
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
shibbolethnoun/ˈʃɪbəlɛθ/
- 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.
- 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.
- 2
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.
- 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].
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。