tea

See also: Tea, TEA, and te'a'

English

A cup of tea in Scotland.

Names like cha in red, names like tea in blue, and other names in grey

Etymology 1

Circa 1650, 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, 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 a fricative (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.[1]

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.

Alternative forms

tay

Pronunciation

(General American) enPR: tē, IPA^(key): /ti/, [tʰi]
(Received Pronunciation) enPR: tē, IPA^(key): /tiː/, [tʰiː]
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (UK) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -iː
Homophones: T, te, tee, ti

Noun

tea (countable and uncountable, plural teas)

(uncountable) The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.
Darjeelingtea is grown in India.
(uncountable) The dried leaves or buds of the tea plant; (countable) a variety of such leaves.
Go to the supermarket and buy some Darjeelingtea.
Not for all the tea in China.
(uncountable) The drink made by infusing these dried leaves or buds in hot water.
Would you like some tea?
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:
  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.
(uncountable) Any similar drink made by infusing parts of various other plants.
camomile tea; mint tea
(uncountable, in combination) Meat stock served as a hot drink.
beef tea
(countable, Commonwealth, northern US) A cup or (East Asia, Southern US) glass of any of these drinks, often with milk, sugar, lemon, and/or tapioca pearls.
(uncountable, UK) A light midafternoon meal, typically but not necessarily including tea.
- 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
  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.
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, OCLC 59891543, page 23:
  Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast. In [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.
(uncountable, Commonwealth) Synonym of supper, the main evening meal, whether or not it includes tea.
The family were sitting round the table, eating their tea.
- 2018, Ray Wyre, ‎Tim Tate, The Murder of Childhood (page 126)
  Jacki set about making the tea—bacon grills with chips and bread and butter.
(cricket) The break in play between the second and third sessions.
Australia were 490 for 7 at tea on the second day.
- 2009, Guardian Media Group, in The Guardian, “What do cricketers eat at tea? When is it safe to flush on the train? What's a plujit?”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:
  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.
(slang, dated) Synonym of marijuana.
- 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, page 103:
  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 […] .
- 1946, Mezz Mezzrow; Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, New York: Random House, page 74:
  Tea puts a musician in a real masterly sphere, and that's why so many jazzmen have used it.
- 1947 March 11, William Burroughs, letter:
  Here in Texas possession of tea is a felony calling for 2 years.
- 1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, OCLC 43419454:
  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.
(slang, especially gay slang and African-American Vernacular) Information, especially gossip.
Spill the tea on that drama, hon.
- 2015, Sonya Shuman, Doors of the Church Are Open: Smoke & Mirrors by Sonya Shuman:
  "What's the tea on you and China? Where she at Alicia? You should know where ya baby at."

Usage notes

In most places tea is assumed to mean hot tea, while in the southern United States, it is assumed to mean iced tea.

Synonyms

(plant): tea plant, tea tree, tea bush
(leaves): tea leaves
(beverage): see Thesaurus:tea
(beverages similar to tea): herb tea, herbal tea, infusion, tisane
(a light meal): see afternoon tea & Thesaurus:meal

Hyponyms

(beverage): see Thesaurus:tea

Derived terms

afternoon tea
all the tea in China
bed tea
black tea
boba tea
bubble tea
builder's tea
camomile tea
cream tea
cup of tea
Devonshire tea
fruit tea
green tea
gumboot tea
herbal tea
herb tea
high tea
iced tea
Labrador tea
Long Island iced tea
milk tea
mint tea
morning tea
pearl tea
Oswego tea
red tea
rooibos tea
spill the tea
sugar honey ice tea
sun tea
sweet tea
tea and toaster
teabag
teaberry
teaboy
tea break
tea caddy
teacake
tea cart
tea ceremony
tea cloth
tea cosy
teacup
teaghrelin
teahouse, tea house
teakettle
tea leaf
tea leaves
tea pad
tea party
tea plant
teapot
tea room
tea service
teaspoon
tea strainer
teatime
tea towel
tea tray
tea trolley
tea urn
tea wagon
teaware
white tea
yellow tea

Descendants

Gullah: tea
Jamaican Creole: tea
→ Abenaki: ti
→ Chickasaw: tii'
→ Cocopa: ṭi·
→ Cornish: té
→ Cree:
Canadian syllabics: ᑎᕀ (tiy)
Latin: tiy
→ Inuktitut: ᑏ (tii)
→ Irish: tae
→ Maori: tī
→ Malecite-Passamaquoddy: ti
→ Mikasuki: ti'g'tlo'q, ji'gitlo'q (“kettle”) (from "tea kettle")
→ Panamint: tii
→ Telugu: టీ (ṭī)
→ Unami: ti
→ Welsh: te

Translations

See tea/translations § Noun.

Verb

tea (third-person singular simple present teas, present participle teaing, simple past and past participle teaed or tea'd or tead)

To drink tea.
- 1916 March 28, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, “Elizabeth”, in William Shawcross, editor, Counting One’s Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 2012, page 32:
  We tea’d with May, and had to wait over an hour for a taxi!
- 1837, Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1835-1837, Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press, published 1982, →ISBN, page 319:
  I dined yesterday at | three on mutton chops and 1/2 pint of E[ast] I [ndian] sherry, and then tead and muffined' at 8.
- 1921, Desmos of Delta Sigma Delta, page 41:
  We coffeed and tead and smoked a trench torch with Grand Master Browning, and cranked our Cadillac for another station.
To take afternoon tea (the light meal).
- 1877, The Bicycling Times and Tourist's Gazette (page 38)
  The wind was high and the hills ditto, and both being against us we were late in reaching Hitchin (30 from Cambridge), so giving up the idea of reaching Oxford we toiled on through Luton, on to Dunstable (47), where we teaed moderately […]
To give tea.
- 1858, Benedict Cruiser, “Of the Agonising Process by which that which was once a Bower of Bliss was converted into a Cave of Despair”, in George Augustus Sala, editor, How I Tamed Mrs. Cruiser, London: James Blackwood, page 129:
  And they’ve got Professor Hummums with ’em, the great Everlasting Star of the Nineteenth Century, which he has breakfasted and dined and tea’d and supped here ever since yesterday.
- 1863, chapter I, in Hospital Transports. A Memoir of the Embarkation of the Sick and Wounded from the Peninsula of Virginia in the Summer of 1862., Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, page 25:
  In half an hour they had all been tea’d and coffeed and refreshed by the nurses, and shortly after were all undressed and put to bed clean and comfortable, and in a droll state of grateful wonder;
- 1866, Emma Jane Worboise, “The St. Beetha’s Temperance Society”, in St. Beetha’s; or, The Heiress of Arne, London: “Christian World” Office, […]; Jackson, Walford, and Hodder, […], page 213:
  But one or two evil-disposed characters muttered they might be sure the lady had her own turn to serve, and they might be sure they wasn’t “teaed and muffined and sandwiched for nothing!”
- 1909, The Public, page 109:
  This gentleman was presented by Colonel C. E. S. Wood, and was entertained here—wined, dined, tead, breakfasted, coffeed and luncheoned—and we bought his pictures.
- 2019, Jordaina Sydney Robinson, Dead Completely (Afterlife Adventures Series):
  After I’d tea’d everyone and Oz had breakfasted them, […]

Etymology 2

From Chinese 茶 (“tea”).

Noun

tea (plural teas)

A moment, a historical unit of time from China, about the amount of time needed to quickly drink a traditional cup of tea. It is now found in Chinese-language historical fiction.

Usage notes

This term is found in English translations of Chinese-language historical fiction, where it is used to give the work an ancient Chinese feel.

References

The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, “Chapter 138: Tea”, by Östen Dahl

Anagrams

-ate, AET, Até, Atë, ETA, a.e.t., aet, ate, eat, eta, æt.

Basque

Noun

tea

absolutive singular of te

Ese

Noun

tea

feces; excrement

Estonian

Verb

tea

present indicative connegative of teadma
second-person singular imperative of teadma

Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese tea (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin tēla. Cognate with Portuguese teia and Spanish tela.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtea̝/

Noun

tea f (plural teas)

(uncountable) cloth
(countable) a piece of cloth
- 1326, Antonio López Ferreiro (ed.), Galicia Histórica. Colección diplomática. Santiago: Tipografía Galaica, page 300:
  It. mando que todollos lenços delgados et teas de rens que os tome Garcia perez. et que faça delles fazer uestimentas para o altar de Sta Maria.
  Item, I command that every fine linen and the clothes of Reims to be taken by Garcia Perez, who should make them into clothes for the altar of Saint Mary
spiderweb
Synonym: arañeira
canvas
Synonym: lenzo
film (skin)
Synonym: película

Derived terms

tear

Etymology 2

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese tea (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin taeda, from Ancient Greek δάος (dáos, “torch”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtea̝/

Noun

tea f (plural teas)

torch
Synonyms: facha, fachuzo

References

“tea” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
“tea” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
“tea” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
“tea” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
“tea” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Hungarian

Etymology

From Dutch thee, from Min Nan 茶 (tê, “tea”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈtɛɒ], [ˈtɛjɒ]
Hyphenation: tea
Rhymes: -ɒ, -jɒ

Noun

tea (plural teák)

tea

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	tea	teák
accusative	teát	teákat
dative	teának	teáknak
instrumental	teával	teákkal
causal-final	teáért	teákért
translative	teává	teákká
terminative	teáig	teákig
essive-formal	teaként	teákként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	teában	teákban
superessive	teán	teákon
adessive	teánál	teáknál
illative	teába	teákba
sublative	teára	teákra
allative	teához	teákhoz
elative	teából	teákból
delative	teáról	teákról
ablative	teától	teáktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	teáé	teáké
non-attributive possessive - plural	teáéi	teákéi

Possessive forms of tea
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	teám	teáim
2nd person sing.	teád	teáid
3rd person sing.	teája	teái
1st person plural	teánk	teáink
2nd person plural	teátok	teáitok
3rd person plural	teájuk	teáik

Derived terms

gyógytea
teás
teázik

Compound words

csalántea
csipkebogyótea
gyümölcstea
hársfatea
kamillatea
teacserje
teadélután
teafilter
teafőző
teaház
teakeverék
teakonyha
tealevél
teamécses
tearózsa
teasütemény
teaszűrő
teaültetvény
teavaj
zsurlótea

Expressions

fekete tea
zöld tea

Anagrams

Eta

Maori

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *tea.

Adjective

tea

white
Synonym: mā

Derived terms

Aotearoa

Colors in Maori · ngā tae (layout · text)
mā, tea	kiwikiwi	pango
whero, kura	karaka; parauri	kōwhai, renga
	kākāriki	kārikiuri
	kikorangi	kahurangi
tūāuri	waiporoporo	māwhero

Rapa Nui

Noun

tea

dawn

Derived terms

tea tea

Sedang

Noun

tea

water
body of water: river, lake, etc
liquid
wine

References

Kenneth D. Smith, Sedang Dictionary (2012), page 375

Spanish

FWOTD – 27 March 2022

Alternative forms

teda (rare)

Etymology

From Latin tēda, early monophthongized variant of Latin taeda (“torch”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtea/ [ˈt̪e.a]
Rhymes: -ea
Syllabification: te‧a

Noun

tea f (plural teas)

torch (a stick with a flame on one end, used chiefly as a light source)
Synonym: antorcha
- 1897, Ángel Ganivet, La conquista del reino de Maya por el último conquistador español Pío Cid, page 5:
  La reunión terminaba siempre cuando se iban a apagar las teas, cuya duración era de cuatro o cinco horas.
  The meeting ended whenever the torches, whose duration was about four or five hours, were going to go out.
- 2013 August 18, Gertrudis María Glück, “El Viaje del Lector: Alemania”, in Clarín‎:
  En esa época en que aún no existía el vidrio, para resguardarse del frío se tapiaban las ventanas con tablas de madera. A su vez, la iluminación se realizaba con teas que llenaban de humo los ambientes cerrados.
  In that era when glass still didn't exist, to protect themselves from the cold, they boarded up windows with wooden planks. In turn, lighting was achieved with torches that filled closed environments with smoke.
(colloquial) intoxication, drunkenness
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:borrachera

tea

English

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

Etymology 2

Noun

Usage notes

References

Anagrams

Basque

Noun

Ese

Noun

Estonian

Verb

Galician

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Hungarian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Maori

Etymology

Adjective

Derived terms

Rapa Nui

Noun

Derived terms

Sedang

Noun

References

Spanish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Further reading