PaO

Pao is a term that can refer to several different things depending on language and context. It may denote bread in Portuguese-speaking regions, where the word is written with a diacritic as pão. In those contexts, it appears in familiar foods such as pão de queijo (cheese bread) and pão francês (French bread).

In East Asian and diaspora culinary contexts, a transliteration variant of bao is sometimes written as pao. This can be seen in references to steamed buns or dumpling-like offerings in Chinese cuisine, especially in older texts or in communities where non-Chinese spellings have persisted.

Pao also functions as a surname or a component of personal names in some cultures. As a romanization, it may reflect different Chinese surnames depending on dialect, and it appears in various countries among Chinese and Filipino communities.

Geographically, Pao is the name of place-names in multiple countries, including towns or villages that bear the label Pao or a closely related form. The specific location and characteristics vary by country.

In acronyms and organizational terms, PAO is used as an abbreviation for roles such as Public Affairs Officer, among other meanings in different institutions.

Because Pao spans foods, surnames, places, and abbreviations, the exact meaning relies on the surrounding context. See also related terms such as bao, baozi, and pão for further information.