Oreo
sandwich cookie made by Mondelez
Oreo ( ; stylized in all caps) is an American brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two cocoa biscuits with a sweet fondant filling. Oreos were introduced in 1912 by Nabisco, and the brand has been owned by Mondelez International since its acquisition of Nabisco in 2012. Oreo cookies are available in more than 100 countries. Many varieties of Oreo cookies have been produced, and limited-edition runs have become popular in the 21st century.
Oreo cookies are an imitation of the Hydrox chocolate cream-centered cookie introduced in 1908, but they had outstripped Hydrox in popularity so largely that a majority of the general public believe Hydrox is instead an imitation of Oreo. Oreo has been the highest-selling cookie brand in the world since 2014.
Etymology
The origin of the name "Oreo" is obscure, but there are many hypotheses, including derivations from the French word or, meaning "gold" (the original tin was gold-colored); the Greek word όρος (oros), meaning "mountain" (the cookie was originally conceived to be dome-shaped); or the Greek word ωραίο (oreo) meaning "nice" or "attractive". Others believe that the cookie was named Oreo simply because the name was short and easy to pronounce. Another theory, proposed by the food writer Stella Parks, is that the name derives from the Greek Oreodaphne, a genus of the laurel family, originating from the Greek words 'oreo' (ωραίο) meaning 'beautiful' and 'daphne' (δάφνη) referring to the laurel. She observes that the original design of the Oreo includes a laurel wreath, and the names of several of Nabisco's cookies at the time of the original Oreo had botanical derivations, including Avena, Lotus, and Helicon (from Heliconia).
“Oreo” enters the record as sandwich cookie made by Mondelez. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Oreo, sandwich and cookie can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q138585. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 2012, 1908 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oreo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.