tea
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: tē
ipa: /tiː/
ipa: [tʰɪj ~ tʰiː]
enpr: tē
ipa: /ti/
ipa: [tʰi]
homophone: T
homophone: te
homophone: tee
homophone: ti
rhymes: -iː
Forms: form: teas
form: tay
Etymology: First appears c. 1655, in the writings of Álvaro Semedo. From Dutch thee, from Hokkien 茶 (tê) (Amoy dialect), from Old Chinese, ultimately from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la (“leaf, tea”). Introduced to English and other Western European languages by the Dutch East India Company, who sourced their tea in Amoy; compare Malay teh along the same trade route. Doublet of chai and cha (and, distantly, the first element of lahpet), from same Proto-Sino-Tibetan root; see discussion of cognates.
Cognates
The word for “tea” in many languages is of Sinitic origin (due to China being the origin of the plant), and thus there are many cognates; see translations. These are from one of two proximate sources, reflected in the phonological shape: forms with a stop (e.g. /t/) are derived from Min Nan tê, while forms with an affricate (e.g. /tʃ/) are derived from other Sinitic languages, like Mandarin chá or Cantonese caa4 (all written as 茶). Different languages borrowed one or the other form (specific language and point in time varied), reflecting trade ties, generally Min Nan tê if by ocean trade from Fujian, Cantonese caa4 if by ocean trade from Guangdong, or northern Chinese chá if by overland trade or by ocean trade from India.
Thus Western and Northern European languages borrowed tê (with the exception of Portuguese, which uses chá; despite being by ocean trade, their source was in Macao, not Amoy), while chá borrowings are used over a very large geographical area of Eurasia and Africa: Southern and Eastern Europe, and on through Turkish, Arabic, North and East Africa, Persian, Central Asian, and Indic languages. In Europe the tê/chá line is Italian/Slovene, Hungarian/Romanian, German/Czech, Polish/Ukrainian, Baltics/Russian, Finnish/Karelian, Northern Sami/Inari Sami. tê was also borrowed in European trade stops in Southern India and coastal Africa, though chá borrowings are otherwise more prevalent in these regions, via Arabic or Indic, due to earlier trade. The situation in Southeast Asia is complex due to multiple influences, and some languages borrowed both forms, such as Malay teh and ca.
Sense 10 (“information, especially gossip”) may be originally from T standing for truth, which evolved into tea. An alternative explanation dates back to gay African-American culture in the 1970s and alludes to women gossiping over afternoon tea.
Senses: examples: text: Darjeeling tea is grown in India.
glosses: The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.
examples: text: Go to the supermarket and buy some Darjeeling tea.
text: Not for all the tea in China.
glosses: The dried leaves or buds of the tea plant; (countable) a variety of such leaves.
examples: text: Would you like some tea?
text: She is drinking her tea right now.
text: Mother[…]considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
glosses: The drink made by infusing these dried leaves or buds in hot water.
examples: text: Mushroom Tea / 8 cups water / 1 cup dried reishi mushroom pieces [...] 1. Start by making Reishi Mushroom Tea: Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. 2. Add the reishi mushroom pieces[…]
ref: 2019 February 12, Maryea Flaherty, Anti-Inflammatory Drinks for Health: 100 Smoothies, Shots, Teas, Broths, and Seltzers to Help Prevent Disease, Lose Weight, Increase Energy, Look Radiant, Reduce Pain, and More!, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 141:
glosses: Any drink which is similar to Camellia sinensis tea in some way
examples: text: camomile tea; mint tea
text: Curcuma tea relieves colds[…]
ref: 2017 January 3, Gilles Diederichs, My Anti-Stress Year: 52 Weeks of Soothing Activities and Wellness Advice, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
glosses: Any drink which is similar to Camellia sinensis tea in some way:
Any similar drink made by infusing parts of various other plants.
examples: text: beef tea
glosses: Any drink which is similar to Camellia sinensis tea in some way:
Meat stock served as a hot drink.
examples: text: We'd like one tea and one coffee, please.
glosses: A cup or (East Asia, Southern US) glass of any of these drinks, often with milk, sugar, lemon, and/or tapioca pearls.
examples: text: I won't make it to the breakfast event, but I'll see you at the tea.
text: But the gorge of the Rush was not at all a nice place for travelling either. I mean, it was not a nice place for people in a hurry. For an afternoon's ramble ending in a picnic tea it would have been delightful.
ref: 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:
text: Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast. In a place [public schools] where alcohol, tobacco and drugs were forbidden, it was essential that something should take their place as a powerful and public totem of virility and cool. Toast, for reasons lost in time, was the substance chosen.
ref: 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 16:
glosses: A light midafternoon meal, typically but not necessarily including tea.
examples: text: The family were sitting round the table, eating their tea.
text: Jacki set about making the tea—bacon grills with chips and bread and butter.
ref: 2018, Ray Wyre, Tim Tate, The Murder of Childhood, page 126:
glosses: Synonym of supper, the main evening meal, whether or not it includes tea.
synonyms: word: supper
extra: the main evening meal, whether or not it includes tea
examples: text: Australia were 490 for 7 at tea on the second day.
text: As recently as the mid-80s the players would be given a bottle of beer at lunchtime at some county grounds, and "tea" still meant a cup of tea into the 90s.
ref: 2009, “What do cricketers eat at tea? When is it safe to flush on the train? What's a plujit?”, Notes and queries: Life and style, in The Guardian:
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The break in play between the second and third sessions.
examples: text: So they were evidence. Evidence of what? That a man occasionally smoked a stick of tea, a man who looked as if any touch of the exotic would appeal to him. On the other hand lots of tough guys smoked marijuana […].
ref: 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 103:
text: Tea puts a musician in a real masterly sphere, and that's why so many jazzmen have used it.
ref: 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Them First Kicks are a Killer”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 2 (1923–1928: Chicago, Chicago), page 74:
text: Here in Texas possession of tea is a felony calling for 2 years.
ref: 1947 March 11, William Burroughs, letter
text: Jive music and tea were the two most important components of the hipster's life.
ref: 1948 June, Anatole Broyard, “A Portrait of the Hipster”, in Partisan Review:
text: Seeing that we didn’t know anything about ourselves, he whipped out three sticks of tea and said to go ahead, supper’d be ready soon.
ref: 1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:
glosses: Synonym of marijuana.
synonyms: word: marijuana
examples: text: Spill the tea on that drama, hon.
text: Now I've told you that I've taken LSD, and you think I'm gonna leap through a window or something like that. And you know why that is, that's because of Art Linkletter's daughter.... But let me give you the tea on her, see, she took LSD, realized she was Art Linkletter's daughter, and threw herself out of the window!
ref: 1992, Lea DeLaria, “Ms. DeLaria's Dating Tips for Dykes”, in Bulldyke in a China Shop (spoken-word comedy album):
text: "What's the tea on you and China? Where she at Alicia? You should know where ya baby at."
ref: 2015, Sonya Shuman, Doors of the Church Are Open: Smoke & Mirrors by Sonya Shuman:
text: For those looking for tea on someone, one of the first places you should look is their Venmo account. ... Though most people have found out how to make all of their transactions private, preventing snooping eyes from seeing how many times they've gone out for brunch in the last month, JD Vance hasn't seemed to figure that out yet.
ref: 2024 July 23, Sara Belcher, “JD Vance's Public Venmo Will Make You Want to Private Yours”, in Distractify:
qualifier: especially gay slang and African-American Vernacular
glosses: Information, especially gossip.
Synonyms: sense: plant
word: tea plant
sense: plant
word: tea tree
sense: plant
word: tea bush
sense: leaves
word: tea leaves
sense: beverages similar to tea
word: herb tea
sense: beverages similar to tea
word: herbal tea
sense: beverages similar to tea
word: infusion
sense: beverages similar to tea
word: tisane
sense: a light meal
word: afternoon tea & Thesaurus:meal
word: cha
word: char
word: Rosie
word: Rosie Lee
word: Rosy
word: Rosy Lee
word: tay
word: tea
word: wet and warm
Hypernyms: word: beverage
Hyponyms: word: Assam
word: Assam tea
word: Berinag
word: Berinag tea
word: black tea
word: bohea
word: boba
word: boba tea
word: bo lei
word: bubble tea
word: builder's tea
word: camomile
word: camomile tea
word: Ceylon
word: Ceylon tea
word: chai
word: chai tea
word: china
word: congo
word: congou
word: cowslip
word: cowslip tea
word: cream tea
word: Darjeeling
word: Darjeeling tea
word: Devonshire tea
word: fruit tea
word: gunpowder
word: gunpowder tea
word: gumboot tea
word: green tea
word: herb tea
word: herbal tea
word: iced tea
word: jasmine tea
word: kongo
word: lapsang souchong
word: masala chai
word: milk tea
word: mint tea
word: Nilgiri
word: Nilgiri tea
word: oolong
word: oolong tea
word: orange pekoe
word: pearl tea
word: pekoe
word: pink tea
word: pu'er
word: pu-erh
word: red tea
word: rooibos tea
word: souchong
word: sun tea
word: sweet tea
word: white tea
word: yellow tea
Derived terms: Abyssinian tea
afternoon tea
all the tea in China
antitea
Appalachian tea
Arabian tea
balm tea
bed-tea
bed tea
beef tea
black tea
bloom tea
boba tea
body tea
bone apple tea
Brazilian tea
breakfast tea
brick-tea
Brigham tea
bubble tea
builders' tea
builder's tea
Bushman's tea
bush tea
butter tea
cambric tea
camomile tea
chai tea
chamomile tea
cheese tea
China tea
chocolate tea
cinder tea
clock the tea
cocoa tea
cowboy tea
cowslip tea
cream tea
cup of tea
dandelion tea
desert tea
Devonshire tea
English as afternoon tea
English breakfast tea
evening tea
fever tea
fish tea
flowering tea
fruit tea
green tea
green-tea cake
green tea cake
gumboot tea
gunpowder tea
hay tea
herbal tea
herb tea
high tea
husband's tea
hybrid tea
iced tea
ice tea
Irish breakfast tea
jasmine tea
Jesuits' tea
kitchen tea
Labrador tea
lemon tea
Long Island iced tea
low tea
Malcolm X tea
malt tea
meat tea
Mexican tea
milk tea
mint tea
Mormon tea
morning tea
mountain tea
New Jersey tea
New Zealand tea tree
oolong tea
Oswego tea
Paraguay tea
pearl tea
picky tea
pink tea
popcorn tea
price of tea in China
red tea
rich tea biscuit
rooibos tea
root tea
Russian tea
severe tea
shower tea
solar tea
someone's cup of tea
spill the tea
squaw tea
storm in a tea-kettle
sugar honey ice tea
sun tea
sweet tea
tadpole tea
tea and medals
tea and toaster
tea-and-toaster
tea and toast syndrome
teabacco
tea-bag
teabag
tea bag
teabagger
tea ball
teabell
teaberry
tea-board
teaboard
tea board
tea boat
teaboo
teabowl
tea bowl
teabox
teaboy
tea bread
tea break
tea buffet
tea caddy
tea-caddy
tea-cake
teacake
tea candle
tea card
tea cart
teacart
tea ceremony
tea chest
tea chest bass
tea chest bassist
tea clam
tea clipper
tea cloth
teacloth
tea cosey
tea cosy
tea-cosy
tea cozy
tea-cup
teacup
tea cup
tea dance
tea dress
tea-dress
tea egg
teaette
tea fight
tea garden
teaghrelin
tea gown
tea-gown
tea-gowned
Tea Green
teahadist
teahead
tea house
teahouse
teaish
tea jenny
tea kettle
teakettle
tea-kettle
tea kitchen
tea lady
tea lead
tea-leaf
tea leaf
tea-leafing
tea leaf paradox
tea-leaved
tea-leaved willow
tea leaves
tea-length
tealess
tea-light
tea light
tealight
tealike
tealite
tea loaf
tea maker
teamaker
teamaking
tea mangrove
tea money
teamster tea
tea oil
tea oil camellia
tea oil plant
tea olive
tea pad
tea party
tea pet
tea plant
tea-pot
teapot
tea pot
tea-poy
tearoom
tea room
tea rose
tea sandwich
tea-service
tea service
tea-set
tea set
tea shades
tea shop
tea shrub
teaspoon
tea stick
tea strainer
tea table
tea-table
teatard
tea-things
tea-time
teatime
tea towel
tea-towel
teatox
tea tray
tea-tray
tea tree oil
tea trolley
tea urn
tea-urn
tea wagon
teaware
tea-water
tea-whisk
tea whisk
tea-wine
tea-wrap
tea yellows
tempest in a tea-kettle
Texas tea
theezan tea
thick tea
thunder tea rice
vampire tea bag
weak tea
West India tea
what does that have to do with the price of tea in China
white tea
without tea and biscuits
worm tea
yellow tea