Bacău

Bacău ( ; , ; ; ) is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. With a population of 136,087 (as of 2021 census), Bacău is the 14th largest city in Romania. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Bistrița River (which meets the Siret River about to the south of Bacău). The Ghimeș Pass links Bacău to the region of Transylvania.

==Etymology== The town's name, which features in Old Church Slavonic documents as Bako, Bakova or Bakovia, comes most probably from a personal name of Hungarian origin. Men bearing the name Bakó or Bako are documented in medieval Transylvania and in 15th-century Bulgaria, but according to Victor Spinei the name itself is of Turkicmost probably of Cuman or Pechenegorigin. Nicolae Iorga believes that the city's name is of Hungarian origin (as Adjud and Sascut). Another theory suggests a Slavic origin for the town's name, pointing to the Proto-Slavic word byk, meaning "ox" or "bull", the region being very suitable for raising cattle; the term, rendered into Romanian alphabet as bâc, was probably the origin of Bâcău. In German it is known as Bakau, in Hungarian as Bákó and in Turkish as Baka.