Taboo, by its very nature, is deeply rooted in language and culture, constantly evolving as the social boundaries of what is acceptable shift – sometimes slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly. What we mean today by taboo needs careful examination, in order to investigate how the boundaries have been redrawn over the years and how these boundaries are constantly negotiated, for example when it comes to intercultural communication. Without any pretense of being exhaustive, this contribution offers some contextualization for the study of taboo(s) in the fields of language, media, and audiovisual translation across themes such as sex, religion, death, disability, homo/transphobia, and racism. It includes discussion on present and future directions in taboo research and it also introduces and contextualizes the contributions included in the special issue Taboo in Language, Media, and Audiovisual Translation.