Word.ws English Dictionary

SAO

SAO is the initialism of session-at-once.

SAO is the initialism of Specified Associated Organisation.

SAO is the initialism of school attendance order.

SAO is the initialism of Sword Art Online.

Proper noun (1)

SAO

  1. Serb Autonomous Oblasts
  2. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (or the star catalog)
  3. Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science
  4. Security Advisory Opinion

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Sao

Sao

  1. A nereid (sea nymph) in Greek mythology.
  2. A moon of Neptune, named after the nymph.

Noun capitalized: Sao

Sao

  1. (rare) Any marine annelid of the genus Hyalinoecia, especially Hyalinoecia tubicola of Europe, which inhabits a transparent movable tube resembling a quill in color and texture.
    • The use of the tube is to protect the body from the pressure of the soft mud in which it stands immersed. When the tube is overset or cast out by the waves or accident, the worm leaves it, and becomes, in its turn, exposed to enemies. To protect itself from these while a new tube is being secreted...1865, George Johnston, A Catalogue of the British Non-Parasitical Worms in the Collection of the British Museum, London: Taylor & Francis, →OCLC, page 138
    • Amongst the other genera belonging to this group of Euniceans, there are one or two which inhabit tubes. Such is the Sao (Northia tubicola of Johnston, the Nereis tubicola of Müller), and the Onuphis conchilega of Sars.1869, William Baird, “The Annelidan Worms, or Annelides (Annelida)”, in The Student and Intellectual Observer, volume 3, London: Groombridge & Sons, →OCLC, page 169

Forms of SAO

pluralSAOs

Origin of SAO

From Ancient Greek Σαώ (Saṓ, literally “the rescuer”), from the verb σῴζω (sōízō, “to save”).

Presumably named after the nereid (see Etymology 1). H. tubicola was initially assigned to the genus Nereis.

Phrases with SAO

Questions about SAO

What does SAO mean?
SAO means serb Autonomous Oblasts.
What is SAO the initialism of?
SAO is the initialism of session-at-once.
What part of speech is SAO?
SAO can be a proper noun or a noun.

Words near SAO in the dictionary

  1. Sanzari
  2. sanzas
  3. Sanzhi
  4. Sanzone
  5. Sanzones
  6. SAO
  7. Sao Paulo
  8. Sao Tome
  9. Sao Tome and Principe
  10. Sao Tomean
  11. Sao Tomeans

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: SAO (page history and authors); Sao (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “SAO.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sao. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.