bao
/baʊ/noun
bao is spelled B-A-O: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,463rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bao means “Any of various types of steamed bread or bun used in Chinese cuisine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bao is baos.
How many letters and syllables are in bao?
| Letters | 3: B-A-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,463rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bao?
Bao appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,463rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bao?
- /baʊ/
Bao has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bao.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bao
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bao?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bao.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: boa, oba.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of bao
- baos plural
- bau
- bow
- pao
- pau
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bao mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various types of steamed bread or bun used in Chinese cuisine
- 2
A sandwich or stuffed bun made with this bread
- 3
A mancala board game played in East Africa.
noun
- 1
Initialism of baryon acoustic oscillation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does bao come from?
Borrowed from Mandarin 包 (bāo) or Cantonese 包 (baau1). Cognate of Vietnamese bánh bao.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).