ENGLISH
REFERENCE

LAO

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈɫaʊ// lao

adj. relating to the country of Laos, its people, or its language.

adj. relating to the nation of Laos, its inhabitants, or the Tai-Kadai language spoken there. Often used attributively to describe cultural or national identity.


SIMPLE

We enjoyed a delicious Lao dinner last night.

CONTEXTUAL

The museum features a stunning collection of traditional Lao textiles and hand-woven silk garments.

COMPLEX

Scholars of Southeast Asian linguistics often study Lao alongside Thai due to the significant degree of mutual intelligibility and shared historical development between the two languages.

Synonyms
Usage

Typically precedes the noun it modifies; when referring to the people as a group, it is often preceded by 'the'.

Pitfall

He is LaotianeseHe is LaoLearners sometimes add incorrect suffixes like '-ese' to the country name; 'Lao' or 'Laotian' are the correct forms.

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