tea

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a light midafternoon meal of tea and sandwiches or cakes

   An Englishman would interrupt a war to have afternoon tea.

2. 2
   noun

   dried leaves of the tea shrub

   used to make tea

3. 3
   noun

   a beverage made by steeping tea leaves in water

   iced tea is a cooling drink

4. 4
   noun

   a reception or party at which tea is served

   we met at the Dean's tea for newcomers

5. 5
   noun

   a tropical evergreen shrub or small tree extensively cultivated in e.g. China and Japan and India

   source of tea leaves

6. 6
   noun

   The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.

   Darjeeling tea is grown in India.

7. 7
   noun

   The dried leaves or buds of the tea plant; (countable) a variety of such leaves.

   Go to the supermarket and buy some Darjeeling tea.

8. 8
   noun

   The drink made by infusing these dried leaves or buds in hot water.

   Would you like some tea?

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),…