Pau

adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of pa (“Maori fort”). alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    A unit of volume used in Brunei, Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak, equivalent to 2 imperial gills (approximately 0.284 litres or 0.6 US pints). historical
  3. 3
    Alternative form of bao (“baozi; Chinese steamed buns with filling”). Malaysia, Singapore, alt-of, alternative
Adjective
  1. 1
    done; over; finished Hawaii, not-comparable

    "I had never known any haoles except Elmer and Marks and they were ice cold affairs. Everyone was always glad when their twice-a-month visit was pau. The very island seemed to sigh with relief […]"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A city, the capital of Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
  2. 2
    A commune of the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy.

Synonyms

All synonyms
baozisangza

Example

More examples

"I had never known any haoles except Elmer and Marks and they were ice cold affairs. Everyone was always glad when their twice-a-month visit was pau. The very island seemed to sigh with relief […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Hawaiian Pidgin English pau, from Hawaiian pau (“done, finished”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Chinese 包.

Related phrases

pyrénées atlantiques

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.