mao
/maʊ̯/noun
mao is spelled M-A-O: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mao means “The ma'oma'o, Gymnomyza samoensis, a large passerine bird native to Samoa” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mao is maos.
How many letters and syllables are in mao?
| Letters | 3: M-A-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th 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 mao?
Mao appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th 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 mao?
- /maʊ̯/
Mao 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-Mao.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Typheuss-Mao.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with mao?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as mao.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: moa, oma.
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 mao
- maos plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mao mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The ma'oma'o, Gymnomyza samoensis, a large passerine bird native to Samoa.
- 2
A fairy chess piece which moves identically to the xiangqi horse, moving one square orthogonally and then one square diagonally at a 135 degree angle. Similar to the chess knight, but has more limited movement as its movement can be obstructed by an intervening piece.
noun
- 1
Initialism of monoamine oxidase.
noun
- 1
Synonym of labret
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does mao come from?
Borrowed from Samoan ma'o, from ma'oma'o.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).