# bao

Pronunciation: US say "BOW" /baʊ/; UK

## Noun

1. A soft steamed bread or bun made from wheat flour, used across many styles of Chinese cooking.
   - Simple: A soft, fluffy steamed bun made from wheat flour in Chinese cooking.
   - _She steamed a fresh batch of bao for the family dinner._
   - _Fluffy bao pairs well with rich, braised meats._
2. A sandwich or stuffed bun made from soft steamed bread, holding fillings such as braised pork or vegetables.
   - Simple: A steamed bun folded or filled with meat, vegetables, or other tasty fillings.
   - _She bit into the warm bao and the sauce dripped down her hand._
   - _A good bao balances tender filling with pillowy bread._
3. A mancala-style board game popular in East Africa, played by scooping and dropping seeds around rows of hollows on a wooden board.
   - Simple: A board game from East Africa played by moving seeds around rows of small pits.
   - _Crowds gathered to watch two masters face off at bao._
   - _He moved the seeds quickly, sweeping them around the bao board._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2** — Borrowed from Mandarin 包 (bāo) or Cantonese 包 (baau1), and related to Vietnamese bánh bao.
**Meaning 3** — From Swahili bao.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bao (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).