Pao or PAO may refer to:
A baozi (Chinese: 包子) or simply known as bao, bau, humbow, nunu, bakpao (Hokkien), bausak, pow, pau or pao (Hakka) is a type of steamed, filled, bun or bread-like (i.e. made with yeast) item in various Chinese cuisines, as there is much variation as to the fillings and the preparations. In its bun-like aspect it is very similar to the traditional Chinese mantou. It can be filled with meat and/or vegetarian fillings. In Japanese, the dish is known as "paozu".
Two types are found in most parts of China and Indonesia: Dabao ("big bun"), measuring about 10 cm across, served individually, and usually purchased for take-away. The other type, xiaobao ("small bun"), measure approximately 5 cm wide, and are most commonly eaten in restaurants, but may also be purchased for take-away. Each order consists of a steamer containing between three and ten pieces. A small ceramic dish is provided for vinegar or soy sauce, both of which are available in bottles at the table, along with chili paste and garlic paste.
The pao is an obsolete unit of dry measure (mass) which was used in South Asia. The name may come from the Punjabi ਪਾਓ páo, which was a traditional charge of one quarter of a seer per every maund of grain that was weighed, converted into a tax by Sawan Mal.Turner also cites a Sindhi word pāu ( پاءُ ) meaning a quarter of a seer.
The pao was recorded in the Bengal Presidency in 1850, but was not considered to be an integral part of the local system of weights. It was equal to four chitaks, and hence a quarter of a seer: the equivalent Imperial weight at the time was given as 7 oz. 10 dwt. Troy (233.3 grams). The use of a quarter-seer weight in Ahmedabad had also been noted in a British East India Company survey of South Asian metrology carried out in 1821: the name of the unit was not recorded, but it would have been equivalent to 4 oz. 3 dr. 17 gr. avoirdupois (119.8 grams) based on the measurement of the Ahmedabad seer.
In Nepal, the pao (Nepali: पाउ pāu) was 1⁄12 of a dharni, and equivalent to about 194.4 grams in 1966. Convenient "pau" units of both 200 grams and 250 grams are in current use in retail sales in different parts of the country.