The ending -ao, which once in Genoese indicated the hiatus [aːu], now generally renders the diphthong [ɔw]. From older forms such as lavao [laˈvaːu] one arrives at lavou [laˈvɔw] of today’s urban Genoese.

It is considered appropriate to retain this ending when it is unstressed, because:

• The pronunciation of unstressed -ao is less clear-cut, and varies from speaker to speaker. The pronunciation of succao “sugar,” for example, can oscillate between [ˈsykˑɔw] ~ [ˈsykˑaw] ~ [ˈsykɔː].
• The use of -ao is consistent with the formation of plurals. From dattao one has dattai [ˈdatˑaj], and from gambao one has gambai [ˈɡaŋbaj].