tea

CEFRA1

/tiː/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A drink made by soaking leaves in hot water.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

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

Examples

  • Having run the race, Jane had two glasses of barley tea.

  • I'm glad you enjoy skiing, but I guess it's just not my cup of tea.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [tʰi]
  • [tʰɪj ~ tʰiː]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

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

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

  3. Any drink which is similar to Camellia sinensis tea in some way:

More examples

In context

  • Do you want some more tea?

  • Go to the supermarket and buy some Darjeeling tea.

  • Not for all the tea in China.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

This hot drink is made from dried leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant and is called blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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), and thus there are many cognates; see translations. These are from one of two proximate sources, re...