tea

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A hot drink made by pouring boiling water onto dried leaves.

   Would you like a cup of tea?

2. 2
   noun

   The dried leaves used to make this drink.

   Go to the shop and buy some green tea.

3. 3
   noun

   A light afternoon meal with tea, sandwiches, or cakes.

   We were invited for afternoon tea at four o'clock.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Tea entered English in the 17th century through Malay from Min Chinese té. That form is related to Mandarin chá, which also gave English the slang term char for tea.

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),…

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