Lao Definition

Lao Sentence Examples

• This page gives an overview of all articles in the 1911 Brittanica which are alphabetized under Lao to Lav.

• The name Lao, which appears to mean simply "man," is the collective Siamese term for all the Thai peoples subject to Siam, while Shan, said to be of Chinese origin, is the collective Burmese term for those subject to Burma.

• Lao is therefore rather a political than an ethnical title, and the people cordially dislike the name, insisting on their right to be called Thai.

• The Lao, who descended from the mountain districts of Yunnan, Szechuen and Kweichow to the highland plains of upper Indo-China, and drove the wilder Kha peoples whom they found in possession into the hills, mostly adopted Buddhism, and formed small settled communities or states in which laws were easy, taxes light and a very fair degree of comfort was attained.

• There are two main divisions, the Lao Pong Dam ("Black Paunch Laos"), so-called from their habit of tattooing the body from the waist to the knees, and the Lao Pong Kao ("White Paunch Laos") who do not tattoo.