お茶

お茶

Japanese

Kanji in this term
茶
ちゃ Grade: 2
on’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 茶 (cha, “tea”).

Alternative forms

• 御茶

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おちゃ [òchá] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [o̞t͡ɕa̠]

Noun

お茶 (hiragana おちゃ, rōmaji ocha)

1. tea, usually green tea

   お茶 (ちゃ)はいかがですか。

   Ocha wa ikaga desu ka.

   How about some tea? (Would you like some tea?)

2. tea ceremony
3. snack with tea or coffee
4. the act of having tea

Usage notes

• Using お茶 is considered neutral (i.e., neither polite nor impolite), while the bare 茶 is markedly impolite to refer to tea. The prefix お (o-) was originally an honorific, but is now part of the word in modern Japanese.

Verb

お茶する (intransitive, hiragana おちゃする, rōmaji ocha suru)

1. (colloquial) go out for tea

Related terms

→

• 紅 (こう)茶 (ちゃ) (kōcha, “black tea”)
• ほうじ茶 (ちゃ) (hōjicha, “roasted green tea”)
• 緑茶 (りょくちゃ) (ryokucha, “green tea”)
• ウーロン茶 (ちゃ) (ūroncha, “Oolong tea”)

• コーヒー (kōhī, “coffee”)
• 喫 (きっ)茶 (さ)店 (てん) (kissaten, “tearoom, teahouse, café”)
• 抹 (まっ)茶 (ちゃ) (matcha, “maccha, matcha, powdered green tea”)

Usage notes

お茶 generally refers to a cup of hot green tea. In general, black tea is referred to as 紅茶 (kōcha), though it can be implicitly included within the term お茶, which literally just means "tea."

The honorific お (o-) in お茶 is normally written in hiragana, though you will see it from time to time in more formal or official writing as 御 (as in 御茶). Also, お茶 is one of the unusual cases of the honorific お (or 御 (o-)) that can be used to refer to anyone, including the speaker. See the usage note at 御-.

茶する without the honorific お is rarely used.

References

1. 1974, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Second Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō
2. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN