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Origami (折り紙)
Origami (折り紙), Japanese paper folding from oru (fold) and kami (paper), evolved from ceremonial origata into an international art and a research field in mathematics, engineering, and education, with notation from Yoshizawa and applications from space structures to metamaterials.
Ormolu
Ormolu (French or moulu, ground gold), also called gilt bronze or bronze doré, is mercury fire-gilded bronze or brass used for 18th- and 19th-century French furniture mounts, clocks, and candelabra; the toxic process was banned in France in 1830.
Orville Redenbacher
Orville Redenbacher (1907-1995), American agronomist from Brazil, Indiana, Purdue 1928; with Charlie Bowman bred a 44:1 expansion popcorn hybrid, launched Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn in 1970, and became a famous TV pitchman; brand now owned by Conagra Brands.
Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta (1932–2014), Dominican-American couturier, founded his New York ready-to-wear house in 1965 after Balenciaga, Lanvin, and Elizabeth Arden; designer of Balmain couture 1993–2002 and gown maker to US first ladies.
Oshikatsu (推し活)
Oshikatsu (推し活), also written oshi-katsu, is the Japanese practice of supporting one's favorite idol, character, or celebrity through concerts, merchandise, and pilgrimages; a 3.5-trillion-yen market with 33.6% prevalence in 2026 surveys.
Ossobuco
Ossobuco (os büs, "bone with a hole") is a Milanese braised veal shank dish with marrow, made in bianco without tomato or modern with tomato, finished with gremolata and paired with risotto alla milanese.
Otaku
Otaku (オタク) is a Japanese term for devoted fans of anime, manga, games, and idols, coined by Nakamori Akio in Manga Burikko in 1983, stigmatized after the 1989 Miyazaki case, and now tied to a ¥4.1 trillion oshikatsu fan economy.
Ottoman clothing
Ottoman clothing is the dress of the Ottoman Empire, worn from the late 13th century until 1922. It featured layered robes and silk textiles that signaled status.
Ottoman cuisine
Ottoman cuisine, the culinary tradition of the Ottoman Empire (also called Ottoman Turkish cuisine), fused Central Asian Turkic, Persian, Arab, and Byzantine traditions. Palace cuisine centered on Topkapı's Matbah-ı Âmire; folk cuisine used simpler ingredients, and French influence reshaped elite cooking in the 19th century.
Outback Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse: American casual-dining steakhouse chain with an Australian theme, founded March 1988 in Tampa by Sullivan, Basham, Gannon, and Cooper; known for the Bloomin' Onion, 'No Rules, Just Right', and ownership by Bloomin' Brands.
Outlet store
Outlet store: a manufacturer- or brand-run shop selling discounted goods, originally surplus factory stock and now mostly made-for-outlet lower-quality merchandise, often clustered in outlet malls; also called factory store or factory outlet.
Outline of BDSM
BDSM, also called kink, is consensual erotic practice combining bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism. Key facts: 40-70% fantasy prevalence, SSC and RACK consent models, minimal psychopathology differences, FetLife as largest community network.
Outline of culture
Outline of culture: a topical guide to culture as socially shared thought, feeling, and behavior (Tylor's 1871 definition), covering elements such as material culture, norms, and symbols, taxonomies like Hofstede's dimensions, measurement instruments, and the disciplines that study culture.
Ouzo
Ouzo (ούζο) is a Greek anise-flavored distilled spirit, legally a "distilled anis", produced exclusively in Greece and Cyprus, minimum 37.5% vol, at least 20% distillate, that turns milky with water (the ouzo effect).
Ovaltine
Ovaltine (Ovomaltine) is a Swiss malted milk drink powder created by Albert Wander in Bern, launched in 1904, sold in pharmacies before becoming a breakfast drink; ABF owns it worldwide except the US, where Nestle holds the trademark.
Oven
An oven is an enclosed heated cavity for cooking food by radiation, convection, and conduction, powered by gas, electricity, or microwaves; types span domestic wall ovens, commercial tunnel ovens up to 100 meters, and FDA-regulated microwave ovens.
Oxford shoe
Oxford shoe: a lace-up dress shoe defined by closed lacing, with eyelet quarters stitched under the vamp. Also called Balmoral; contrasts with the Derby's open lacing; brogueing is separate decoration. Emerged around 1825 at Oxford University.
Oxtail
Oxtail, or cow tail (queue de bœuf, rabo de toro), is a collagen-rich beef variety meat sold in cross-sections, braised 3–5 hours into gelatinous stews such as Jamaican oxtail, kare-kare, and sokkoritang.
Oyster sauce
Oyster sauce (蚝油, ho yeow) is a thick dark-brown Cantonese condiment made from concentrated oyster extract with sugar, salt, and starch; invented accidentally by Lee Kum Sheung in Nanshui, Guangdong, in 1888, now led commercially by Lee Kum Kee.
Oz Clarke
Oz Clarke, British wine critic, broadcaster and writer based in London; former RSC actor-singer who became the BBC Food and Drink wine expert in 1984 and the most-recognised UK wine critic (Wine Intelligence 2015, 18.2%).
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), also called Pabst, is an American 4.7% ABV adjunct lager founded in Milwaukee in 1844, named for blue ribbons tied on bottles from 1882, now contract-brewed by Pabst Brewing Company.
Paco Rabanne
Paco Rabanne (Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo, 1934–2023), Spanish-born Parisian couturier of the '12 Unwearable Dresses' (1966), built garments from metal, Rhodoïd and paper; the Puig-owned house, renamed Rabanne in 2023.
Pączki
Pączki (singular pączek; aliases Packzis, Paczky, Ponchki) are Polish filled fried yeast doughnuts with rose-petal or plum jam, eaten in huge quantities on Tłusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday) and as Paczki Day in Polish-American Chicago and Detroit.
Padma Lakshmi (பத்மா லட்சுமி)
Padma Lakshmi (பத்மா லட்சுமி), born 1970 in Chennai, is an Indian-American TV host, author, and activist, known for hosting Bravo's Top Chef (2006–2023), creating Hulu's Taste the Nation, and CBS's America's Culinary Cup.
Paella
Paella (paella valenciana) is a Valencian rice dish cooked in a wide two-handled pan, with ten canonical ingredients including chicken, rabbit, garrofó beans and saffron, and no seafood; declared a Spanish cultural asset in 2021.
Pagpag
Pagpag (also tirtir, from tira-tira) is leftover fast-food and restaurant food scavenged from Philippine garbage, washed and recooked or resold in poor Metro Manila communities such as Tondo and Baseco, at PHP 10–40/kg, with documented salmonella and malnutrition risks.
Pain au chocolat
Pain au chocolat (chocolatine in southwest France and Quebec) is a French viennoiserie of croissant-like laminated dough wrapped around two dark chocolate batons; 84% of French people use the name pain au chocolat.
Painted Grey Ware culture
Painted Grey Ware culture: Iron Age material culture of northern South Asia, c. 1100–500/400 BCE, named after fine wheel-made grey pottery with black painted designs; over 848 sites from Punjab to the Ganga plains, succeeded by Northern Black Polished Ware.
Painted Pottery Basin with Dancing Figures
The Painted Pottery Basin with Dancing Figures (舞蹈纹彩陶盆) is a roughly 5,000-year-old Majiayao culture basin unearthed in Qinghai in 1973, decorated with fifteen hand-holding dancers, the earliest known Chinese depiction of dance.
Painted Pottery Jar with Stork, Fish, and Stone Axe
The Painted Pottery Jar with Stork, Fish, and Stone Axe (鹳鱼石斧图彩陶缸) is a Yangshao culture burial urn from about 6,000 years ago, unearthed in 1978 at Yancun, Henan, and held by the National Museum of China.