tea

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. 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.

noun

1. (uncountable) The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.
   Darjeeling tea is grown in India.
2. (uncountable) The dried leaves or buds of the tea plant; (countable) a variety of such leaves.
   Go to the supermarket and buy some Darjeeling tea.
   Not for all the tea in China.
3. (uncountable) The drink made by infusing these dried leaves or buds in hot water.
   Would you like some tea?
   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. 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest
4. (uncountable) Any similar drink made by infusing parts of various other plants.
   camomile tea; mint tea
5. (uncountable, in combination) Meat stock served as a hot drink.
   beef tea
6. (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.
7. (uncountable, UK) A light midafternoon meal, typically but not necessarily including tea.
   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. 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
8. (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.
   Jacki set about making the tea—bacon grills with chips and bread and butter. 2018, Ray Wyre, Tim Tate, The Murder of Childhood, page 126
9. (cricket) The break in play between the second and third sessions.
   Australia were 490 for 7 at tea on the second day.
   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. 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
10. (slang, dated) Synonym of marijuana.
    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 […]. 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 103
    Here in Texas possession of tea is a felony calling for 2 years. 1947 March 11, William Burroughs, letter
11. (slang, especially gay slang and African-American Vernacular) Information, especially gossip.
    Spill the tea on that drama, hon.
    "What's the tea on you and China? Where she at Alicia? You should know where ya baby at." 2015, Sonya Shuman, Doors of the Church Are Open: Smoke & Mirrors by Sonya Shuman

verb

1. To drink tea.
   We tea’d with May, and had to wait over an hour for a taxi! 28 March 1916, 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
   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. 1837, Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1835-1837, Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, published 1982, page 319
   We coffeed and tead and smoked a trench torch with Grand Master Browning, and cranked our Cadillac for another station. 1921, Desmos of Delta Sigma Delta, page 41
2. To take afternoon tea (the light meal).
   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 […] 1877, The Bicycling Times and Tourist's Gazette, page 38
3. To give tea.
   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. 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
   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; 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
   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. 1909, The Public, page 109
   After I’d tea’d everyone and Oz had breakfasted them,[…] 2019, Jordaina Sydney Robinson, Dead Completely (Afterlife Adventures Series)

Etymology 2

From Chinese 茶 (chá, “tea”).

noun

1. 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.