Russian word for tea

chay

tea

Russian Definition

tea
     1. (ед.ч.) чай
      Go to the supermarket and buy some tea.
      Would you like some tea?
     2. чашка чая
      I’d like two teas, please.
     3. сорт чая

Translations for tea and their definitions

чай pronunciation
     1. n. tea
           кирпичный чай (kirpičnyj čaj) — brick tea
           китайский чай (kitájskij čaj) — China tea
           цветочный чай (tsvetóčnyj čaj) — rose tea
           цейлонский чай (tsejlónskij čaj) — Ceylon tea
           крепкий чай (krépkij čaj) — strong tea
           слабый чай (slábyj čaj) — weak tea
           сладкий чай (sládkij čaj) — sweet tea
           стакан чаю (stakán čáju) — a glass of tea
           чашка чая (čáška čája) — a cup of tea
           пригласить кого-то на чашку чая (priglasít’ kovó-to na čášku čája) — to invite someone for tea
           Дайте мне, пожалуйста, кило чаю (dájte mne, požálsta, kiló čáju) — I’d like a kilo of tea, please.
           дать на чай (dat’ na čaj) — to leave a tip
           иван-чай — willowherb
     2. n. tea plant, Camellia sinensis, Thea sinensis
     3. interj. methinks, must be, may be, hopefully, probably

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Introduced to Russia in the 17th century, tea has become one of the most popular beverages. Nowadays, it is considered the national beverage and closely associated with traditional Russian culture. Because of the popularity of tea and tea drinking, the word чай (tea) is used in Russian quite often. Also, there are a few words with the same root. For the Russian language learners, it could be interesting (and useful) to know how the words related to TEA are used in everyday Russian.

Enjoy learning new vocabulary with examples and pictures!

  • чай (noun; (masc.) = tea

  • ча́шка ча́я = a cup of tea

  • па́чка ча́я = a pack of tea

  • чёрный зелёный кита́йский инди́йский рома́шковый чай = black / green / Chinese / Indian / chamomile tea

  • кре́пкий чай = strong tea

  • чай в паке́тике = tea bag

  • чай с … = tea with (instrumental)

… c варе́ньем, пря́никами, конфе́тами, са́харом, молоко́м, лимо́ном = with jam, gingerbread, candy, sugar, milk, lemon

  • к ча́ю = for tea

пече́нье к ча́ю = cookies for tea

  • чаёк (diminutive from чай)

This is how the noun чай is used with verbs as a direct object.

  • пить /попи́ть чай (ча́ю) = to have tea, drink tea

I have nothing to eat — I drink tea.

It’s cold — I drink tea.

I have a sore throat — I drink tea.

I’m bored — I drink tea.

Дава́й попьём ча́ю (чайку́)! = (informal) = Let’s have tea!

Мо́жет, чайку́? = (colloquial; literally: Maybe, little tea?) = Some tea, maybe?

Не хо́чешь ча́ю? = (informal) = Do you want some tea?

  • зава́ривать завари́ть чай = to make tea

Ма́ма завари́ла зелёный чай. (Mother has made some green tea.)

Please note that in spoken Russian, when the word чай and its diminutive form чаёк are used with verbs as direct objects, they usually take not the accusative, but the dative case —ча́ю /чайку́.

  • приглаша́ть пригласи́ть на чай = to invite for tea

  • чаепи́тие = tea drinking; usually not short

The Russian word чаепи́тие means tea drinking. This is a compound word that consists of two roots of the words ЧАЙ – TEA and ПИТЬ – DRINK. It has two meanings: 1) tea drinking ceremony; 2) tea party

утреннее чаепитие — morning tea drinking
пригласить на чаепитие — to invite for tea
Бостонское чаепитие — Boston tea party

  • чаёвничать / почаёвничать (-аю, аешь, ают) = drink tea

  • чаёвник (mas.) чаёвница (fem.) = a person who likes tea and drinks it a lot

Она́ така́я чаёвница! = She is suck a tea lover!

  • ча́йный (adj.) = (related to) tea

ча́йный стол = tea table; table served for tea

ча́йный серви́з = tea set

ча́йная ло́жка = tea spoon

ча́йная ча́шка = tea cup

ча́йная церемо́ния = tea ceremony

ча́йная ла́вка = tea store (ла́вка is an archaic word for ‘store’)

  • ча́йник = tea pot; kettle

  • ста́вить /поста́вить ча́йник = to put a kettle on the stove (in order to boil water for making tea)

Поста́вь ча́йник, попьём ча́ю. = Literally: Put a kettle, we’ll drink some tea.

Barely any widely used word in Russian has no idiomatic expressions. The ЧАЙ-words have a few .

Idiomatic expressions

  • В час по ча́йной ло́жке = too slow; barely with any progress

  • гоня́ть чаи́ = Google Translate will interpret this expression as “ to chase teas”; however, this idiom just means “drink tea”.

  • за ча́шкой чая = (во время чаепития) = during tea time

  • чаевы́е = tips (originally, money for tea)

оставлять / оставить чаевые = to leave tips

The word ча́йник also has idiomatic meaning = inexperienced person, newbie

Компью́тер для ча́йников = computers for newbies (dummies)

А вы часто пьёте чай?

Какой чай ваш любимый?

Вы приглашаете друзей на чай?

Вы любите посидеть за чашкой чая с друзьями?

Что у вас сегодня к чаю?

Вы чаёвник (чаёвница)?

С чем вы любите чай?

#чай #tea #teadrinking #wordoftheday

Russian tea tins are among the most beautiful tea tins I have seen up to now. Russians love tea, and I love Russian tea tins. The tins are usually very colorful, very imaginative design, showing often very lively scenes. And sometimes scenes from everyday life.

Here is shown a small advertising tea tin plate, maybe it was a tip tray, or a giveaway for customers. I guess it dates from c1910. Diameter is 11.6 cm.

Please note that the scene shows the typical Russian way of preparing tea with a samowar. Please also note that the man in the picture drinks his tea from the saucer, not from the cup. A way of drinkíng tea which avoids that you burn your tongue – the tea cools down in the saucer much faster than in the cup.

Make sure you don’t overlook the cat!


This entry was posted on February 18, 2010 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Tea from Russia, tin plates with tags Russian, tea, tea tin, tin plate, tray. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Home>Words that start with T>tea>English to Russian translation

How to Say Tea in RussianAdvertisement

Categories:
Food and Eating

If you want to know how to say tea in Russian, you will find the translation here. We hope this will help you to understand Russian better.

Here is the translation and the Russian word for tea:

чай

[chay]

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Tea in all languages

Dictionary Entries near tea

  • taxi driver
  • taxpayer
  • Tbilisi
  • tea
  • teach
  • teacher
  • teaching

Cite this Entry

«Tea in Russian.» In Different Languages, https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/tea/russian. Accessed 14 Apr 2023.

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Check out other translations to the Russian language:

  • beanstalk
  • bourbon
  • cauliflower
  • drinking
  • feast
  • potato
  • sesame seeds
  • set the table
  • turnip
  • Would you like to have dinner with me?

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PRONUNCIATION OF ЧАЙ IN RUSSIAN

WHAT DOES ЧАЙ MEAN IN RUSSIAN?

Click to see the original definition of «чай» in the Russian dictionary.

Click to see the automatic translation of the definition in English.

чай

Tea

Чай

Tea is a drink obtained by cooking, brewing and / or infusing a leaf of a tea bush, which is pre-prepared in a special way. Tea is also called the leaf of a tea bush itself, processed and prepared to make a drink. This preparation includes preliminary drying, twisting, more or less prolonged enzymatic oxidation, final drying. Other operations are introduced into the process only for the production of certain species and varieties of tea. Sometimes the word «tea» is used as a name … Чай  — напиток, получаемый варкой, завариванием и/или настаиванием листа чайного куста, который предварительно подготавливается специальным образом. Чаем также называется сам лист чайного куста, обработанный и подготовленный для приготовления напитка. Подготовка эта включает предварительную сушку, скручивание, более или менее длительное ферментативное окисление, окончательную сушку. Прочие операции вводятся в процесс только для производства отдельных видов и сортов чая. Иногда слово «чай» используют и в качестве названия…


Definition of чай in the Russian dictionary

TEA1, -y (-y), pl. (for the designation of varieties), tea, teas, m. 1. Cultivated evergreen, dried and specially processed leaves of which when brewing give a fragrant tonic drink-tea plantations. Picking tea. 2. Dried, crushed and specially treated leaves of such a plant. Chinese, Indian, Georgian, Russian tea Baihovy (scattered) and pressed tea Black, green tea Brew tea 3. Drink infused on such leaves. Strong, liquid tea A glass of tea. Invite to a cup of tea u0026 lt; to visit). Tea to drink — do not cut wood (ate). 4. Infusion from brewed dried leaves or fruits of a plant, berries. Lime tea (infusion on linden flowers). Raspberry tea (infusion on dried raspberries). Carrot tea Cowberry tea 5. Same as tea. Evening tea For tea. To call to tea. For tea (give, take) (spoken) — about the tip. Tea and sugar! (simple) — greeting drinking tea. Teas chase (simple.) — drink tea slowly, with pleasure. || decreasing. chaek, seagull, m. (to 2, 3, 4 and 5 value). || adjective tea, -th, -ye. Ch. Sheet. The family of tea (noun) .CHAY2. 1. A particle. After all, all the same. Tea we are not strangers to you. 2. Enter, eat. Apparently, probably. You, h «you know him? ЧАЙ1, -я (-ю), мн. (при обозначении сортов) чай, чаёв, м. 1. Культивируемое вечнозелёное растение, высушенные и особо обработанные листья к-рого при заварке дают ароматный тонизирующий напиток-Плантации чая. Сбор чая. 2. Высушенные, измельчённые и специально обработанные листья такого растения. Китайский, индийский, грузинский, русский чай Байховый (рассыпной) и прессованный чай Чёрный, зеленый чай Заварить чай 3. Напиток, настоянный на таких листьях. Крепкий, жидкий чай Стакан чаю. Пригласить на чашку чая < в гости). Чай пить — не дрова рубить (поел. ). 4. Настой из заваренных сушёных листьев или плодов какого-нибудь растения, ягод. Липовый чай (настой на цветках липы). Малиновый чай (настой на сушёной малине). Морковный чай Брусничный чай 5. То же, что чаепитие. Вечерний чай За чаем. Позвать к чаю. На чай (давать, брать) (разговорное) — о чаевых. Чай да сахар! (прост. ) — приветствие пьющим чай. Чаи гонять (прост. ) — распивать чай не торопясь, с удовольствием. || уменьш. чаёк, чайку, м. (ко 2, 3, 4 и 5 значение). || прилагательное чайный, -ая, -ое. Ч. лист. Семейство чайных (существительное).
ЧАЙ2. 1. частица. Ведь, всё-таки. Чай мы с тобой не чужие. 2. вводи, ел. По-видимому, вероятно. Ты, ч„ его знаешь?

Click to see the original definition of «чай» in the Russian dictionary.

Click to see the automatic translation of the definition in English.

RUSSIAN WORDS THAT RHYME WITH ЧАЙ

Synonyms and antonyms of чай in the Russian dictionary of synonyms

Translation of «чай» into 25 languages

online translator

TRANSLATION OF ЧАЙ

Find out the translation of чай to 25 languages with our Russian multilingual translator.

The translations of чай from Russian to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «чай» in Russian.

Translator Russian — Chinese


1,325 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Spanish


570 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — English


tea

510 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Hindi


चाय

380 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Arabic


شاي

280 millions of speakers

Russian


чай

278 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Portuguese


chá

270 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Bengali


চা

260 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — French


thé

220 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Malay


teh

190 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — German


Tee

180 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Japanese


お茶

130 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Korean


85 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Javanese


teh

85 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Vietnamese


trà

80 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Tamil


தேநீர்

75 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Marathi


चहा

75 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Turkish


çay

70 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Italian


65 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Polish


herbata

50 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Ukrainian


чай

40 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Romanian


ceai

30 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Greek


τσάι

15 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Afrikaans


tee

14 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Swedish


te

10 millions of speakers

Translator Russian — Norwegian


te

5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of чай

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «ЧАЙ»

Trends

The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «чай» in the different countries.

Examples of use in the Russian literature, quotes and news about чай

8 RUSSIAN BOOKS RELATING TO «ЧАЙ»

Discover the use of чай in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to чай and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in Russian literature.

1

Его величество чай: [пер. с англ.]

Зародившись в Китае, традиция чаепития обрела популярность в Европе и на других континентах. В первой части этой книги приводится …

2

Вас излечит чай: черный, зеленый, красный

В книге рассказывается о лечебных свойствах одного из самых популярных напитков в мире — чая. Предлагаются рекомендации по его …

Наталья Михайловна Сухинина, 2014

3

Чай, травяные настои, чайный гриб: лекарство от всех болезней

Chaj yavlyaetsya odnim iz samyh rasprostranennyh napitkov — ego p’yut ezhednevno milliony lyudej vo vsem mire.

4

Чай-великий целитель: сорта и их лечеб. свойства, …

Умеете ли вы заваривать чай правильно? Знаете ли вы, какую пользу приносит чай и травяные отвары? В этой книге вы найдете …

пузырями, а потом чай выливается обратно в чайник. И так три раза. Затем получившийся напиток пробуется хозяином, который оценивает его и, если необходимо, добавляет заварку, мяту, сахар и подогревает его еще раз.

В этой книге известный врач-фитотерапевт Николай Даников подробно описал наиболее распространенные виды чая, их целебные …

Николай Илларионович Даников, 2012

Известно ли вам, что чай может быть использован как лечебное средство в качестве напитка, в форме сока свежих листьев, экстракта, в …

8

История с чаем. Как чай мне очень помог

Реальная и забавно-поучительная история. В ней с юмором показано, как важно уметь доставлять себе радость. Проведено некое …

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «ЧАЙ»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term чай is used in the context of the following news items.

Чай с молоком вредит здоровью человека — Ученые

Американские ученые смогли разрушить прежнюю теорию о пользе чая с добавлением молока. Выяснилось, что подобный напиток может нанести … «РИА «VistaNews», Oct 15»

Ученые: чай с молоком может помочь сохранить белизну зубов

Канадские ученые из Университета Альберты выяснили, что чай с молоком может помочь сохранить белизну зубов, что станет очень важным … «Медийно-новостной портал 24smi.org, Aug 15»

Ромашковый чай продлевает жизнь женщинам — исследование

Предыдущее исследование показало, что ромашковый чай помогает предотвращать развитие рака груди. Секрет напитка заключается в химическом … «Российская Газета, May 15»

С жиром и с ананасами. 7 удивительных способов заварить чай

16 мая отмечается День калмыцкого чая. АиФ.ru представляет 7 оригинальных национальных методов заваривания чая, которые неподготовленному … «Аргументы и факты, May 15»

Кофе и чай снижают риск смерти на 15 процентов

Такими же свойствами обладает и зеленый чай. Его регулярное потребление (больше 5 чашек в день) снижает риск преждевременного летального … «Вести.Ru, May 15»

Сладкий чай снижает стресс, — ученые

Справиться со стрессом поможет сладкий чай — к такому выводу пришли специалисты из США. Сладкий чай понижает уровень стресса, гормон стресса … «Islam Today, Apr 15»

Ученые узнали, почему полезны яблоки и зеленый чай

Не секрет, что яблоки и зеленый чай полезны для здоровья. Ученые из Института пищевых исследований нашли новые подтверждения в пользу этой … «Российская Газета, Apr 15»

Руководитель «Росчайкофе» получил предупреждение ФАС за …

Федеральная антимонопольная служба вынесла предостережение гендиректору «Росчайкофе» Рамазу Чантурии за прогноз роста оптовых цен на чай … «Ведомости, Dec 14»

Поставщики повышают цены на алкоголь, чай и кофе на 30%

Отмечается, что цены на алкоголь уже поднялись на 15–20%, на чай и кофе — на 25–30%. «Мы получили уведомления от поставщиков этих групп … «Газета.Ru, Dec 14»

Чай и кофе могут подорожать после Нового года

Россиян ждёт неприятный новогодний сюрприз: с начала 2015 года цены на чай и кофе подорожают как минимум на 10%. Эксперты не исключают, что … «ТВ Центр — Официальный сайт телеканала, Dec 14»

REFERENCE

« EDUCALINGO. Чай [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-ru/chay>. Apr 2023 ».

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chinese character for tea

The etymology of the various words for tea reflects the history of transmission of tea drinking culture and trade from China to countries around the world.[1] Nearly all of the words for tea worldwide fall into three broad groups: te, cha and chai, present in English as tea, cha or char, and chai. The earliest of the three to enter English is cha, which came in the 1590s via the Portuguese, who traded in Macao and picked up the Cantonese pronunciation of the word.[2][3] The more common tea form arrived in the 17th century via the Dutch, who acquired it either indirectly from the Malay teh, or directly from the pronunciation in Min Chinese.[2] The third form chai (meaning «spiced tea») originated from a northern Chinese pronunciation of cha, which travelled overland to Central Asia and Persia where it picked up a Persian ending yi, and entered English via Hindustani in the 20th century.[4]

The different regional pronunciations of the word in China are believed to have arisen from the same root, which diverged due to sound changes through the centuries. The written form of the word in Chinese 茶 was created in the mid-Tang dynasty by modifying the character 荼 (pronounced tu) that meant «bitter vegetable». Tu was used to refer to a variety of plants in ancient China, and acquired the additional meaning of «tea» by the Han dynasty.[4] The Chinese word for tea was likely ultimately derived from the non-Sinitic languages of the botanical homeland of the tea plant in southwest China (or Burma), possibly from an archaic Austro-Asiatic root word *la, meaning «leaf».[5]

Pronunciation[edit]

The Chinese character for tea is 茶, originally written with an extra horizontal stroke as 荼 (pronounced tu), and acquired its current form in the Tang dynasty first used in the eighth-century treatise on tea The Classic of Tea.[6][7][8] The word appears in ancient Chinese texts such as Shijing signifying a kind of «bitter vegetable» (苦菜) and refers to various plants such as sow thistle, chicory, or smartweed,[9] and also used to refer to tea during the Han dynasty.[10] By the Northern Wei the word tu also appeared with a wood radical, meaning a tea tree.[10] The word 茶 first introduced during the Tang dynasty refers exclusively to tea. It is pronounced differently in the different varieties of Chinese, such as chá in Mandarin, zo and dzo in Wu Chinese, and ta and te in Min Chinese.[11][12] One suggestion is that the pronunciation of tu (荼) gave rise to ;[13] but historical phonologists believe that cha, te and dzo all arose from the same root with a reconstructed hypothetical pronunciation dra (dr— represents a single consonant for a retroflex d), which changed due to sound shift through the centuries.[4] Other ancient words for tea include jia (檟, defined as «bitter tu» during the Han dynasty), she (蔎), ming (茗, meaning «fine, special tender tea») and chuan (荈), but ming is the only other word for tea still in common use.[4][14]

Most Chinese languages, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, pronounce it along the lines of cha, but Min varieties along the Southern coast of China pronounce it like teh. These two pronunciations have made their separate ways into other languages around the world:[15]

  • Te is from the Amoy of Hokkien dialect in southern Fujian. The ports of Xiamen (Amoy) and Quanzhou were once major points of contact with foreign traders. Western European traders such as the Dutch may have taken this pronunciation either directly from Fujian or Taiwan where they had established a port, or indirectly via Malay traders in Bantam, Java.[16] The Dutch pronunciation of thee then spread to other countries in Western Europe. This pronunciation gives rise to English «tea» and similar words in other languages, and is the most common form worldwide.
  • Cha originated from different parts of China. The «cha» pronuniation may come from the Cantonese pronunciation tsa around Guangzhou (Canton) and the ports of Hong Kong and Macau, also major points of contact, especially with the Portuguese, who spread it to India in the 16th century. The Korean and Japanese pronunciations of cha, however, came not from Cantonese, rather they were borrowed into Korean and Japanese during earlier periods of Chinese history. Chai (Persian: چای chay) [17] might have been derived from Northern Chinese pronunciation of chá,[18] which passed overland to Central Asia and Persia, where it picked up the Persian ending -yi before passing on to Russian, Arabic, Turkish, etc.[4][2] The chai pronunciation first entered English either via Russian or Arabic in the early 20th century,[19] and then as a word for «spiced tea» via Hindi-Urdu which acquired the word under the influence of the Mughals.[17]

English has all three forms: cha or char (both pronounced ), attested from the late 16th century;[20] tea, from the 17th;[21] and chai, from the 20th.[22]

Languages in more intense contact with Chinese, Sinospheric languages like Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese, may have borrowed their words for tea at an earlier time and from a different variety of Chinese, in the so-called Sino-Xenic pronunciations. Although normally pronounced as cha (commonly with an honorific prefix o- as ocha) or occasionally as sa (as in sadô or kissaten) Japanese also retains the early but now uncommon pronunciations of ta and da, similarly Korean also has ta in addition to cha, and Vietnamese trà in addition to chè.[3] The different pronunciations for tea in Japanese arose from the different times the pronunciations were borrowed into the language: Sa is the Tō-on reading (唐音, literally Tang reading but in fact post Tang), ‘ta’ is the Kan-on (漢音) from the Middle Chinese spoken at the Tang dynasty court at Chang’an; which is still preserved in modern Min Dong da. Ja is the Go-on (呉音) reading from Wuyue region,[citation needed] and comes from the earlier Wu language centered at Nanjing, a place where the consonant was still voiced, as it is today in Hunanese za or Shanghainese zo.[23] Zhuang language also features southern cha-type pronunciations.[citation needed]

The few exceptions of words for tea that do not fall into the three broad groups of te, cha and chai are the local languages from the botanical homeland of the tea plant.[4] Examples are la (meaning tea purchased elsewhere) and miiem (wild tea gathered in the hills) from the Wa people of northeast Burma and southwest Yunnan, letpet in Burmese and meng in Lamet meaning «fermented tea leaves», tshuaj yej in Hmong language as well as miang in Thai («fermented tea»). These languages belong to the Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman and Tai families of languages now found in South East Asia and southwest of China. Scholars have suggested that the Austro-Asiatic languages may be the ultimate source of the word tea, including the various Chinese words for tea such as tu, cha and ming. Cha for example may have been derived from an archaic Austro-Asiatic root word *la (Proto-Austroasiatic: *slaʔ, cognate with Proto-Vietic *s-laːʔ), meaning «leaf», while ming may be from the Mon–Khmer meng (fermented tea leaves). The Sinitic, Tibeto-Burman and Tai speakers who came into contact with the Austro-Asiatic speakers then borrowed their words for tea.[24]

Etymological observations[edit]

The different words for tea fall into two main groups: «te-derived» (Min) and «cha-derived» (Cantonese and Mandarin).[2] Most notably through the Silk Road;[25] global regions with a history of land trade with central regions of Imperial China (such as North Asia, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East) pronounce it along the lines of ‘cha’, whilst most global maritime regions with a history of sea trade with certain southeast regions of Imperial China (such as Europe), pronounce it like ‘teh’.[26]

The words that various languages use for «tea» reveal where those nations first acquired their tea and tea culture:

  • Portuguese traders were the first Europeans to import the herb in large amounts. The Portuguese borrowed their word for tea (chá) from Cantonese in the 1550s via their trading posts in the south of China, especially Macau.[27]
  • In Central Asia, Mandarin cha developed into Persian chay, and this form spread with Central Asian trade and cultural influence.
  • Russia (чай, chai) encountered tea in Central Asia.
  • The Dutch word for «tea» (thee) comes from Min Chinese. The Dutch may have borrowed their word for tea through trade directly from Fujian or Formosa, or from Malay traders in Java who had adopted the Min pronunciation as teh.[16][27] The Dutch first imported tea around 1606 from Macao via Bantam, Java,[28] and played a dominant role in the early European tea trade through the Dutch East India Company, influencing other European languages, including English, French (thé), Spanish (), and German (Tee).[27]
  • The Dutch first introduced tea to England in 1644.[27] By the 19th century, most British tea was purchased directly from merchants in Canton, whose population uses cha, the English however kept its Dutch-derived Min word for tea, although char is sometimes used colloquially to refer to the drink in British English (see below).

At times, a te form will follow a cha form, or vice versa, giving rise to both in one language, at times one an imported variant of the other:

  • In North America, the word chai is used to refer almost exclusively to the Indian masala chai (spiced tea) beverage, in contrast to tea itself.
  • The inverse pattern is seen in Moroccan colloquial Arabic (Darijja), shay means «generic, or black Middle Eastern tea» whereas atay refers particularly to Zhejiang or Fujian green tea with fresh mint leaves. The Moroccans are said to have acquired this taste for green tea—unique in the Arab world—after the ruler Mulay Hassan exchanged some European hostages captured by the Barbary pirates for a whole ship of Chinese tea. See Moroccan tea culture.
  • The colloquial Greek word for tea is tsáï, from Slavic chai. Its formal equivalent, used in earlier centuries, is téïon, from .
  • The Polish word for a tea-kettle is czajnik, which comes from the Russian word Чай (pronounced chai). However, tea in Polish is herbata, which, as well as Lithuanian arbata, was derived from the Dutch herba thee, although a minority believes that it was derived Latin herba thea, meaning «tea herb.»[3]
  • The normal word for tea in Finnish is tee, which is a Swedish loan. However, it is often colloquially referred to, especially in Eastern Finland and in Helsinki, as tsai, tsaiju, saiju or saikka, which is cognate to the Russian word chai. The latter word refers always to black tea, while green tea is always tee.
  • In Ireland, or at least in Dublin, the term cha is sometimes used for «tea,» as is pre-vowel-shift pronunciation «tay» (from which the Irish Gaelic word tae is derived[citation needed]). Char was a common slang term for tea throughout British Empire and Commonwealth military forces in the 19th and 20th centuries, crossing over into civilian usage.
  • The British slang word «char» for «tea» arose from its Cantonese Chinese pronunciation «cha» with its spelling affected by the fact that ar is a more common way of representing the phoneme /ɑː/ in British English.

Derivatives of te[edit]

Language Name Language Name Language Name Language Name Language Name
Afrikaans tee Armenian թեյ [tʰɛj] Basque tea Belarusian гарба́та (harbáta)(1) Catalan te
Kashubian (h)arbata(1) Czech or thé(2) Danish te Dutch thee English tea
Esperanto teo Estonian tee Faroese te Finnish tee French thé
West Frisian tee Galician German Tee Greek τέϊον téïon Hebrew תה, te
Hungarian tea Icelandic te Indonesian teh Irish tae Italian
Javanese tèh Kannada ಟೀಸೊಪ್ಪು ṭīsoppu Khmer តែ tae scientific Latin thea Latvian tēja
Leonese Limburgish tiè Lithuanian arbata(1) Low Saxon Tee [tʰɛˑɪ] or Tei [tʰaˑɪ] Malay teh
Malayalam തേയില tēyila Maltese Norwegian te Occitan Polish herbata(1)
Scots tea [tiː] ~ [teː] Scottish Gaelic , teatha Sinhalese තේ Spanish Sundanese entèh
Swedish te Tamil தேநீர் tēnīr (3) Telugu తేనీరు tēnīr (4) Western Ukrainian gerbata(1) Welsh te

Notes:

  • (1) from Latin herba thea, found in Polish, Western Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Kashubian (for Belarusian and Western Ukrainian the g- is pronounced as h-)[3]
  • (2) or thé, but this term is considered archaic and is a literary expression; since roughly the beginning of the 20th century, čaj is used for ‘tea’ in Czech; see the following table
  • (3) nīr means water; tēyilai means «tea leaf» (ilai «leaf»)
  • (4) nīru means water; ṭīyāku means «tea leaf» (āku = leaf in Telugu)

Derivatives of cha[edit]

Language Name Language Name Language Name Language Name Language Name
Chinese Chá Assamese চাহ sah Bengali চা cha (sa in Eastern regions) Kapampangan cha Cebuano tsá
English cha or char Gujarati ચા chā Japanese 茶, ちゃ cha(1) Kannada ಚಹಾ chahā Khasi sha
Punjabi چاء ਚਾਅ cha Korean cha(1) Kurdish ça Lao ຊາ /saː˦˥/ Marathi चहा chahā
Oḍiā ଚା’ cha’a Persian چای chā Portuguese chá Sindhi chahen چانهه Somali shaah
Tagalog tsaá Thai ชา /t͡ɕʰaː˧/ Tibetan ཇ་ ja Vietnamese trà and chè(2)

Notes:

  • (1) The main pronunciations of 茶 in Korea and Japan are 차 cha and ちゃ cha, respectively. (Japanese ocha (おちゃ) is honorific.) These are connected with the pronunciations at the capitals of the Song and Ming dynasties.
  • (2) Trà and chè are variant pronunciations of 茶; the latter is used mainly in northern Vietnam and describes a tea made with freshly picked leaves.

Derivatives of chai[edit]

Language Name Language Name Language Name Language Name Language Name
Albanian çaj Amharic ሻይ shay Arabic شاي shāy Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ܟ݈ܐܝ chai Armenian թեյ tey
Azerbaijani çay Bosnian čaj Bulgarian чай chai Chechen чай chay Croatian čaj
Czech čaj English chai Finnish dialectal tsai, tsaiju, saiju or saikka Georgian ჩაი chai Greek τσάι tsái
Hindi चाय chāy Kazakh шай shai Kyrgyz чай chai Kinyarwanda icyayi Judaeo-Spanish צ’יי chai
Macedonian чај čaj Malayalam ചായ chaaya Mongolian цай tsai Nepali chiyā चिया Pashto چای chay
Persian چای chāī (1) Romanian ceai Russian чай chay Serbian чај čaj Slovak čaj
Slovene čaj Swahili chai Tajik чой choy Tatar чәй çäy Tlingit cháayu
Turkish çay Turkmen çaý Ukrainian чай chai Urdu چائے chai Uzbek choy

Notes:

  • (1) Derived from the earlier pronunciation چا cha.

Others[edit]

Language Name Language Name Language Name
Japanese da, た ta(1) Korean da [ta](1) Burmese လက်ဖက် lahpet [ləpʰɛʔ](2)
Thai miang(3) Lamet meng Tai la
  • (1) Note that cha is the common pronunciation of «tea» in Japanese and Korean.
  • (2) Fermented tea leaves eaten as a meal
  • (3) Fermented tea

References[edit]

  1. ^ Mair & Hoh 2009, pp. 262–264.
  2. ^ a b c d «tea». Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ^ a b c d Mair & Hoh 2009, p. 262.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Mair & Hoh 2009, pp. 264–265.
  5. ^ Mair & Hoh 2009, p. 266.
  6. ^ Albert E. Dien (2007). Six Dynasties Civilization. Yale University Press. p. 362. ISBN 978-0300074048.
  7. ^ Bret Hinsch (2011). The ultimate guide to Chinese tea. ISBN 9789744801296.
  8. ^ Nicola Salter (2013). Hot Water for Tea: An inspired collection of tea remedies and aromatic elixirs for your mind and body, beauty and soul. ArchwayPublishing. p. 4. ISBN 978-1606932476.
  9. ^ Benn 2015, p. 22.
  10. ^ a b Mair & Hoh 2009, p. 265.
  11. ^ Peter T. Daniels, ed. (1996). The World’s Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0195079937.
  12. ^ «「茶」的字形與音韻變遷(提要)». Archived from the original on 29 September 2010.
  13. ^ Keekok Lee (2008). Warp and Weft, Chinese Language and Culture. Eloquent Books. p. 97. ISBN 978-1606932476.
  14. ^ «Why we call tea «cha» and «te»?», Hong Kong Museum of Tea Ware, archived from the original on 16 January 2018, retrieved 25 August 2014
  15. ^ Dahl, Östen. «Feature/Chapter 138: Tea». The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Max Planck Digital Library. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
  16. ^ a b Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado, Anthony Xavier Soares (June 1988). Portuguese Vocables in Asiatic Languages: From the Portuguese Original of Monsignor Sebastiao Rodolfo Dalgado, Volume 1. South Asia Books. pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-8120604131.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  17. ^ a b Mair & Hoh 2009, p. 263.
  18. ^ «Chai». American Heritage Dictionary. Archived from the original on 18 February 2014. Chai: A beverage made from spiced black tea, honey, and milk. ETYMOLOGY: Ultimately from Chinese (Mandarin) chá.
  19. ^ «chai». Online Etymology Dictionary.
  20. ^ «char». Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016.
  21. ^ «tea». Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
  22. ^ «chai». Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
  23. ^ Mair & Hoh 2009, p. 264.
  24. ^ Mair & Hoh 2009, pp. 265–267.
  25. ^ «Cultural Selection: The Diffusion of Tea and Tea Culture along the Silk Roads | Silk Roads Programme». en.unesco.org. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  26. ^ Sonnad, Nikhil (11 January 2018). «Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea». Quartz. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  27. ^ a b c d «Tea». Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  28. ^ Chrystal, Paul (15 October 2014). Tea: A Very British Beverage. ISBN 9781445633602.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Benn, James A. (2015). Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-988-8208-73-9.
  • Mair, Victor H.; Hoh, Erling (2009). The True History of Tea. Thames & Hudson. pp. 262–264. ISBN 978-0-500-25146-1.

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The Russian word for tea is чай, pronounced chai. It’s the same word as what they call spiced tea at Starbucks, but it does not have to be spicy. Russian shares the word chai for tea with Turkish, Persian, Japanese, Hindi and many other languages.

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