老撾

Etymology
Attested since the, with the second character pronounced like zhuā. Its usage was gradually surpassed by, until it was reintroduced as the official name for Laos in the 1950s by PRC marshal. The wō pronunciation for the second character is relatively recent (from the 1960s), most likely since 老撾 as a whole was re-interpreted as a transcription of 🇨🇬.

The first character is from, the autonym of the Lao people.

The origin of the second character is less clear:
 * According to Dianlüe, written by the Ming dynasty writer Xie Zhaozhe , is a corruption of.
 * Alternatively, modern writer Cai Wencong (蔡文欉) postulates that comes from 🇨🇬.