tea

Circa 1650, from Dutch thee, from Min Nan 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.

• (General American) enPR: tē, IPA^(key): /ti/, [tʰi]
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tē, IPA^(key): /tiː/, [tʰiː]

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: T, te, tee, ti

tea (countable and uncountable, plural teas)

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?

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:

     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.

4. (uncountable) Any similar drink made by infusing parts of various other plants.

   camomile tea; mint tea

5. (uncountable) Meat stock served as a hot drink.

   beef tea

6. (countable, Commonwealth of Nations, 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, Britain) A light midafternoon meal, typically but not necessarily including tea.
   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 23:

     Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast. In [public schools] where alcohol, tobacco and drugs were forbidden, it was essential that something should take their place as a powerful and public totem of virility and cool. Toast, for reasons lost in time, was the substance chosen.

8. (uncountable, Commonwealth of Nations) Synonym of supper, the main evening meal, whether or not it includes tea.

   The family were sitting round the table, eating their tea.

9. (cricket) The break in play between the second and third sessions.

   Australia were 490 for 7 at tea on the second day.

   • 2009, Guardian Media Group, in The Guardian, “What do cricketers eat at tea? When is it safe to flush on the train? What's a plujit?”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     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.

10. (slang, dated) Synonym of marijuana.
    • 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, page 103:

      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 […] .

    • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow & al., Really the Blues, Payback Press, 1999, page 74:

      Tea puts a musician in a real masterly sphere, and that's why so many jazzmen have used it.

    • 1947 March 11, William Burroughs, letter:

      Here in Texas possession of tea is a felony calling for 2 years.

11. (slang, especially gay slang and African American Vernacular) Information, especially gossip.
    • 2015, Sonya Shuman, Doors of the Church Are Open: Smoke & Mirrors by Sonya Shuman:

      "What's the tea on you and China? Where she at Alicia? You should know where ya baby at."

    Spill the tea on that drama, hon.

In most places tea is assumed to mean hot tea, while in the southern United States, it is assumed to mean iced tea.

• (plant): tea plant, tea tree, tea bush
• (leaves): tea leaves
• (beverage): see Thesaurus:tea
• (beverages similar to tea): herb tea, herbal tea, infusion, tisane
• (a light meal): see afternoon tea & Thesaurus:meal

• (beverage): see Thesaurus:tea

• Gullah: tea
• Jamaican Creole: tea
• → Abenaki: ti
• → Chickasaw: tii'
• → Cocopa: ṭi·
• → Cornish: té
• → Cree:

  Canadian syllabics: ᑎᕀ (tiy)

  Latin: tiy

• → Irish: tae
• → Maori: tī
• → Malecite-Passamaquoddy: ti
• → Mikasuki: ti'g'tlo'q, ji'gitlo'q (“kettle”) (from "tea kettle")
• → Panamint: tii
• → Unami: ti
• → Welsh: te

tea (third-person singular simple present teas, present participle teaing, simple past and past participle teaed)

1. To drink tea.
2. To take afternoon tea (the light meal).
   • 1877, The Bicycling Times and Tourist's Gazette (page 38)

     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 […]

From Chinese 茶 (“tea”).

tea (plural teas)

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.

This term is found in English translations of Chinese-language historical fiction, where it is used to give the work an ancient Chinese feel.

• -ate, AET, Até, Atë, ETA, a.e.t., aet, ate, eat, eta, æt.

tea

1. feces; excrement

13th century (Cantigas de Santa Maria). From Old Galician and Old Portuguese tea, from Latin tēla. Cognate with Portuguese teia and Spanish tela.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtea̝/

tea f (plural teas)

1. (uncountable) cloth
2. (countable) a piece of cloth
   • 1326, Antonio López Ferreiro (ed.), Galicia Histórica. Colección diplomática. Santiago: Tipografía Galaica, page 300:

     It. mando que todollos lenços delgados et teas de rens que os tome Garcia perez. et que faça delles fazer uestimentas para o altar de Sta Maria.

     Item, I command that every fine linen and the clothes of Reims to be taken by Garcia Perez, who should make them into clothes for the altar of Saint Mary

3. spiderweb

   Synonym: arañeira

4. canvas

   Synonym: lenzo

5. film (skin)

   Synonym: película

• tear

13th century (Cantigas de Santa Maria). From Latin taeda, from Ancient Greek δάοσ (dáos, “torch”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtea̝/

tea f (plural teas)

1. torch

   Synonyms: facha, fachuzo

• “tea” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “tea” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “tea” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “tea” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “tea” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

From Dutch thee, from Min Nan 茶 (tê, “tea”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɛɒ]
• Hyphenation: tea

tea (plural teák)

1. tea

• teás
• teázik

(Compound words):

• teaház
• tealevél
• teaszűrő

(Expressions):

• zöld tea

tea

1. white

• Aotearoa

tea

1. dawn

• tea tea

tea

1. water
2. body of water: river, lake, etc
3. liquid
4. wine

• Kenneth D. Smith, Sedang Dictionary (2012), page 375

• teda (rare)

From Latin taeda.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtea/, [ˈt̪ea]

tea f (plural teas)

1. torch (a stick with a flame on one end, used chiefly as a light source)

   Synonym: antorcha

   • 1897, Ángel Ganivet, La conquista del reino de Maya por el último conquistador español Pío Cid, page 5:

     La reunión terminaba siempre cuando se iban a apagar las teas, cuya duración era de cuatro o cinco horas.

     The meeting ended whenever the torches, whose duration was about four or five hours, were going to go out.

   • 2013 August 18, Gertrudis María Glück, “El Viaje del Lector: Alemania”, in Clarín‎:

     En esa época en que aún no existía el vidrio, para resguardarse del frío se tapiaban las ventanas con tablas de madera. A su vez, la iluminación se realizaba con teas que llenaban de humo los ambientes cerrados.

     In that era when glass still didn't exist, to protect themselves from the cold, they boarded up windows with wooden planks. In turn, lighting was achieved with torches that filled closed environments with smoke.

2. (colloquial) intoxication, drunkenness

• (intoxication): See Thesaurus:borrachera.

• “tea” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.