Illicit means maybe against the law but definitely against the rules, for example an illicit affair. The word for against the law is illegal, from Latin, or unlawful, from Germanic. I guess the Germanic cousin of "illicit" would be "forbidden."
replyExtramarital affairs are against the law in many countries and 17 US states. “Illicit affair” is potentially a holdover from when it was illegal more places, not just a conflating of against the rules with illegality.
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