shibboleth

Universal Words noun (formal) 1 an old idea, principle or phrase that is no longer accepted by many people as important or appropriate to modern life: the crumbling of old political shibboleths 2 a custom, word, etc. that distinguishes one group of people from another ORIGIN From a Hebrew word meaning 'ear of corn'. In the Bible story, Jephthah, the leader of the Gileadites, was able to use it as a test to tell which were his own men, because foreigners found the 'sh' sound difficult to pronounce.