Lao

Lao may refer to:

Laos

Other places

Philosophers

Other

Lao, Estonia

Lao is a village in Tõstamaa Parish, Pärnu County, in southwestern Estonia. It is located on the top of the Tõstamaa peninsula, on the coast of the Gulf of Riga. Lao has a population of 31 as of 1 January 2011.

Munalaiu harbour, which connects the islands Kihnu and Manilaid with the mainland, is located in Lao.

References

Lao people

The Lao (Lao: ລາວ, Thai or Isan: ลาว, IPA: láːw) are an ethnic group native to Laos and northeastern Thailand (where they are known as Isan), they belong to the family of Tai peoples.

Names

The etymology of the word Lao is uncertain, although it may be related to tribes known as the Ai Lao (Lao: ອ້າຽລາວ, Isan: อ้ายลาว, Chinese: 哀牢; pinyin: Āiláo, Vietnamese: ai lao) who appear in Han Dynasty records in China and Vietnam as a people of what is now Yunnan Province. Tribes descended from the Ai Lao included the Tai tribes that migrated to Southeast Asia.

The English word Laotian, used interchangeably with Lao in most contexts, comes from French laotien/laotienne. The dominant ethnicity of Northeastern Thailand who descend from the Lao are differentiated from the Lao of Laos and by the Thais by the term Isan people or Thai Isan (Lao: ໄທ ອີສານ, Isan: ไทยอีสาน, Thai pronunciation: [iː sǎ:n]), a Sanskrit-derived term meaning northeast, but 'Lao' is still used.

Subdivisions of the Lao people