tea

/tiː//ti/

tea noun: the tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.

Image: Laurel F from Seattle, WA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

tea (countable and uncountable, plural teas)

(uncountable) The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.
- Darjeeling tea is grown in India.
(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.
(uncountable) The drink made by infusing these dried leaves or buds in hot water.
- Would you like some tea?
- She is drinking her tea right now.
(Southern US) Specifically sweet tea, an iced tea supersaturated with sugar.
Any drink which is similar to Camellia sinensis tea in some way
- Mushroom Tea / 8 cups water / 1 cup dried reishi mushroom pieces [...] 1. Start by making Reishi Mushroom Tea: Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. 2. Add the reishi mushroom pieces[…]2019 February 12, Maryea Flaherty, Anti-Inflammatory Drinks for Health: 100 Smoothies, Shots, Teas, Broths, and Seltzers to Help Prevent Disease, Lose Weight, Increase Energy, Look Radiant, Reduce...
(uncountable) Any similar drink made by infusing parts of various other plants.
- camomile tea; mint tea
- Curcuma tea relieves colds[…]2017 January 3, Gilles Diederichs, My Anti-Stress Year: 52 Weeks of Soothing Activities and Wellness Advice, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN
(in-compounds, uncountable) Meat stock served as a hot drink.
- beef tea
(Commonwealth, Northern-US, countable) A cup of any of these drinks, often with milk, sugar, lemon, or tapioca pearls.
- We'd like one tea and one coffee, please.
(Southern US, East Asia) A glass of these drinks.
(UK, uncountable) A light midafternoon meal, typically but not necessarily including tea.
- I won't make it to the breakfast event, but I'll see you at the 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
(Commonwealth, Ireland, uncountable) Synonym of supper, the main evening meal, whether or not it includes the drink tea.
- The family were sitting round the table, eating their tea.
- Breakfast was composed of a meal which reminded me of a linseed poultice; for dinner there were potatoes boiled in their jackets with beef saltier than the ocean itself. [...] Tea was something like breakfast.1933, Frank Clune, Try Anything Once, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 38
Synonyms:

supper
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
(dated, slang) 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
- Tea puts a musician in a real masterly sphere, and that's why so many jazzmen have used it.1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Them First Kicks are a Killer”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 2 (1923–1928: Chicago, Chicago), page 74
Synonyms:

marijuana
(slang, especially gay slang and African-American Vernacular) Information, especially gossip.
- Spill the tea on that drama, hon.
- Now I've told you that I've taken LSD, and you think I'm gonna leap through a window or something like that. And you know why that is, that's because of Art Linkletter's daughter.... But let me give you the tea on her, see, she took LSD, realized she was Art Linkletter's daughter, and threw herself...1992, Lea DeLaria, “Ms. DeLaria's Dating Tips for Dykes”, in Bulldyke in a China Shop (spoken-word comedy album)

Verb

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

(intransitive) To drink tea.
- We tea’d with May, and had to wait over an hour for a taxi!1916 March 28, 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...
- 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, →ISBN, page 319
(intransitive) To take afternoon tea (a 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
(transitive) To give tea to.
- 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...
- 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

Adjective (1)

tea (comparative more tea, superlative most tea)

(slang) Good-looking, sexy.

Noun (2)

tea (plural teas)

A moment, a historical unit of time from China, about the amount of time needed to quickly drink a traditional cup of tea.

Noun (3) capitalized: TEA

TEA (countable and uncountable, plural TEAs)

(Northern Ireland, abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of training and employment agency.
(abbreviation, acronym, uncountable) Acronym of triethylaluminium.
(abbreviation, uncountable) Abbreviation of triethylamine.
(abbreviation, uncountable) Abbreviation of triethanolamine.

Adjective (2) capitalized: TEA

TEA (not comparable)

(US, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of taxed enough already.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: TEA

TEA

(abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of The Elm Architecture.
(abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of Tiny Encryption Algorithm
(Texas, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of Texas Education Agency.
- Hinojosa presented state budget data going back to 2016 that she said shows TEA has grown by about 50% over the last decade under Gov. Greg Abbott, while the percentage of students who pass the state’s assessment tests has declined.2025 March 28, Brant Bigamon, “DOGEing the Texas Education Agency”, in The Austin Chronicle

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Tea

Tea

A city in South Dakota.

tea meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

tea in Hindi

dried leaves of tea plant: चायपत्ती cāypattī
drink made from leaves of tea plant: चाय cāy
drink made from other plants: काढ़ा kāṛhā

tea in Tamil

dried leaves of tea plant: தேயிலை tēyilai
drink made from leaves of tea plant: தேநீர் tēnīr, டீ ṭī, தேத்தண்ணீர் tēttaṇṇīr
drink made from other plants: தேநீர் tēnīr, நீர் nīr
cup of this drink: ஒரு குவளை தேநீர் oru kuvaḷai tēnīr

tea in Marathi

dried leaves of tea plant: चहा cahā
drink made from leaves of tea plant: चहा cahā

tea in Urdu

dried leaves of tea plant: چائے cāe
drink made from leaves of tea plant: چائے cāe

More languagesFewer languages

tea in Bengali: চা ca
tea in Telugu: తేయాకు tēyāku, తేనీరు tēnīru, టీ ṭī
tea in Malayalam: ചായ cāya
tea in Kannada: ಚಹಾ cahā, ಟೀ ṭī
tea in Punjabi: ਚਾਹ cāh, چاہ cāh
tea in Gujarati: ચા cā
tea in Odia: ଚା cā
tea in Sanskrit: चाय cāya
tea in Sinhala: තේ tē, තෝ tō
tea in Assamese: চাহ পাত sah pat, চাহ sah, ফালাপ phalap
tea in Nepali: चिया ciyā
tea in Pashto: چاي čāy, چی čay, چاى čāy
tea in Tagalog: tsaa, tsa, saa
tea in Arabic: شَاي šāy, فِنْجَان شَاي finjān šāy
tea in Malay: teh, ca
tea in Indonesian: teh, ca
tea in Thai: ชา chaa, ใบชา bai chaa, น้ำชา náam-chaa, ชาถ้วยหนึ่ง
tea in Vietnamese: trà, chè, lá trà, lá chè
tea in Myanmar: လက်ဖက်ခြောက် lakhpakhkrauk, လက်ဖက်ရည် lakhpak-rany, လက်ဖက် lakhpak, လ္ဘက် la.bhak
Sindhi: چانھِ cā̃hi, چانهِه čānhi, चांहि
Dhivehi: ސައި sai
Kashmiri: چائ
Dzongkha: ཇ ja

Examples of tea in a sentence

Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast.1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 16:
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:
Here in Texas possession of tea is a felony calling for 2 years.1947 March 11, William Burroughs, letter
Jive music and tea were the two most important components of the hipster's life.1948 June, Anatole Broyard, “A Portrait of the Hipster”, in Partisan Review:

All 40 example sentences with tea

Synonyms of tea

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of tea

Forms of tea

Noun
plural	teas
plural	TEAs
alternative form (obsolete, dialectal)	tay
Verb
third-person singular present	teas
present participle	teaing
past participle	teaed
past	teaed
past participle	tea'd
past	tea'd
past participle	tead
past	tead
Adjective
comparative	more tea
superlative	most tea

Plural of tea: teas

Origin of tea

First appears c. 1655, in the English translation Álvaro Semedo’s writings. 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, reflected in the phonological shape: forms with a stop (e.g. /t/) are derived from Min Nan tê, while forms with an affricate (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...

Semantic loan from Chinese 茶 (chá, “tea”).

Phrases with tea

153 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with tea

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tea

What does tea mean?: Tea means the tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.
What is tea in Hindi?: Tea in Hindi is चायपत्ती (cāypattī), चाय (cāy), काढ़ा (kāṛhā). See Tea meaning in Hindi.
How do you use tea in a sentence?: Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast.
What part of speech is tea?: Tea can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce tea?: Tea is pronounced /tiː/ (UK).
What is the plural of tea?: The plural of tea is teas.

Words near tea in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: tea (page history and authors); TEA (page history and authors); Tea (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-tea.ogg, En-us-tea.ogg, En-au-tea.ogg.

Cite this entry: “tea.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tea. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.