Tapu (also Tabu) was a permanent lease of state-owned arable land to a peasant family in the Ottoman Empire. The term was also used to indicate the title deed that certified tapu rights. In Palestine, the Turkish word "tapu" was pronounced "tabu" by the Arabs, and has been carried over into Hebrew as such. Tapu is the basis of the Ottoman agrarian system revolving around family-scale units called çifthane.