AO, aO, Ao, or ao may refer to:

Arts and entertainment

* Adults Only, an entertainment rating * AO Music (AOmusic), a world-music fusion group consisting of Jay Oliver, Miriam Stockley and others * Ao: The Last Hunter, a 2010 prehistoric drama movie * '' Eureka Seven: AO'', Japanese mecha anime television series *

Lord Ao ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a ...

, a fictional deity in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' universe * Annoying Orange, an American comedy web series

Businesses and organizations

* AO (originally American Optical Company) eyeglass lenses, a brand now merged with Carl Zeiss Vision *

AO Foundation The AO Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the care of patients with musculoskeletal injuries or pathologies and their sequelae through research, development, and education of surgeons and operating room personnel. The AO ...

(originally ), a non-profit organisation dedicated to the treatment of trauma and disorders of the musculoskeletal system *

AO World AO World is an electrical retailer based in Bolton, England. It operates in the United Kingdom (ao.com), and previously operated in Germany (ao.de) and the Netherlands (ao.nl), specialising in household appliances and electricals. It is listed o ...

, a UK retailer of household appliances trading under the brand name ao.com * or (), a type of Russian corporate entity; see open joint-stock company * Athletics Ontario, formally Ontario Track and Field Association (OTAF) * Australian Airlines (IATA code AO)

Government and politics

* Administrative Office of the United States Courts *

Administrative Officer His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...

, a grade within the United Kingdom's Civil Service * Angola (ISO code and NATO country code AO) * Autonomous oblast, type of Russian administrative division *

Autonomous okrug Autonomous okrugs ( rus, автономный округ, ''avtonomnyy okrug''; more correctly referred to as "autonomous districts" or "autonomous areas") are a type of federal subject of the Russian Federation and simultaneously an administrati ...

, type of Russian administrative division * NSDAP/AO, Foreign Organization branch of the Nazi Party *

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

, postnominal AO

Military

* Area of operations, a U.S. military term * AO, a U.S. Navy hull classification symbol for an oiler * AO-, the prefix for several firearms *

Aviation Ordnanceman Aviation Ordnanceman (abbreviated as AO) is a United States Navy occupational rating. History Aviation Ordnancemen operate and handle aviation ordnance equipment. They are responsible for the maintenance of guns, bombs, torpedoes, rockets, and ...

, a United States Navy occupational rating

Philosophy and religion

Alpha and Omega Alpha (Α or α) and omega (Ω or ω) are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and a title of Christ and God in the Book of Revelation. This pair of letters is used as a Christian symbol, and is often combined with the Cross, Chi-rh ...

(abbreviation) *

Ao (mythology) Ao (''daylight'') is one of the primal deities who are the unborn forces of nature in Māori mythology. Ao is the personification of light, clouds, and the ordinary world, as opposed to darkness () and the underworld. He is spoken of under man ...

, a deity in Māori mythology *

Ao (turtle) Ao ( <

Old Chinese

(

, a creature in Chinese mythology * Ao, a type of Easter Island wood carving

Science and technology

.ao .ao is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for Angola. It was originally administered by the college of engineering of the University of Agostinho Neto before being redelegated to the Ministry of Telecommunications and Informa ...

, top-level Internet domain code for Angola * Adaptive optics, an astronomical imaging technology * Ambient occlusion, a shading method in computer graphics * AMSAT-OSCAR, a satellite naming convention * Applied Optics, scientific journal published by the Optical Society of America (OSA) * Arctic oscillation, a climate pattern * Atomic orbital, in physics and chemistry * Ao, the atomic symbol for the misidentified chemical element Ausenium.

Surnames and initials

Ao (surname) Áo is the Mandarin pinyin and Wade–Giles romanization of the Chinese surname written in Chinese character. It is romanized as Ngo in Cantonese. Ao is listed 375th in the Song dynasty classic text ''Hundred Family Surnames''. As of 2008, it is ...

(), a Chinese surname * Ou (surname) (/ and /), romanized as Ao in Cantonese * Aaron Owens (born 1976), American streetball player

Other uses

* Alphabetically ordered *

Ao (color) AO, aO, Ao, or ao may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Adults Only, an entertainment rating * AO Music (AOmusic), a world-music fusion group consisting of Jay Oliver, Miriam Stockley and others * Ao: The Last Hunter, a 2010 prehistoric d ...

* Ao languages *

Ao Naga The Ao Nagas are a major Naga ethnic group native to Mokokchung District of Nagaland, Northeast India. Their main territory is from Tsüla (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsürang (Disai) Valley in the west in Mokokchung District. The Ao Nagas ...

, an Indian ethnic group * or , meaning extraordinary professor ( academic rank in Germany) *

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, an annual tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia * A, an abbreviation of "Anno", meaning "In the year" (as in Anno Domini)