See also: , and
U+8336, 茶
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8336

[U+8335]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+8337]

U+F9FE, 茶
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9FE

[U+F9FD]
CJK Compatibility Ideographs 刺
[U+F9FF]

Translingual

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Stroke order
 

Han character

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(Kangxi radical 140, +6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 廿人木 (TOD), four-corner 44904, composition 𠆢(GV) or 𠆢(HTJK))

Derived characters

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References

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  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 1029, character 4
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30915
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1488, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3207, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+8336

Chinese

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trad.
simp. #
alternative forms
𦯬
𣘻
𣗪
𦹍
 
Wikipedia has articles on:

Glyph origin

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Phono-semantic compound (形聲形声, OC *rlaː) : semantic + phonetic (OC *la).

, then slightly modified into a more conservative 茶, originates as a graphical modification of archaic (*rlaː, bitter plant), used for “tea” in classical sources. The modern version is unrelated to the bottom component of .

Etymology

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As tea may have originated from Sichuan, where the native Yi people speak Loloish languages, Sagart (1999) suggests that the Old Chinese item was possibly originally borrowed from Proto-Loloish *la¹ (tea), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la (leaf; tea). Schuessler (2007) traces its ultimate origin to Proto-Austroasiatic *slaʔ (leaf) (in Sidwell's 2024 reconstruction).

Alternatively, Qiu (1988) suggests that it might be a semantic extension of (*rlaː, bitter plant).

Pronunciation

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Note:
  • dor2 - vernacular;
  • tâ, ca2 - literary.
Note:
  • tê/têe - vernacular;
  • tâ, chhâ - literary.

  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /ʈ͡ʂʰa³⁵/
Harbin /ʈ͡ʂʰa²⁴/
Tianjin /t͡sʰɑ⁴⁵/
Jinan /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁴²/
Qingdao /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁴²/
Zhengzhou /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁴²/
Xi'an /t͡sʰa²⁴/
Xining /t͡sʰa²⁴/
Yinchuan /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁵³/
Lanzhou /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁵³/
Ürümqi /t͡sʰa⁵¹/
Wuhan /t͡sʰa²¹³/
Chengdu /t͡sʰa³¹/
Guiyang /t͡sʰa²¹/
Kunming /ʈ͡ʂʰa̠³¹/
Nanjing /ʈ͡ʂʰɑ²⁴/
Hefei /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /t͡sʰa¹¹/
Pingyao /t͡sɑ¹³/
Hohhot /t͡sʰa³¹/
Wu Shanghai /zo²³/
Suzhou /zo¹³/
Hangzhou /d͡zɑ²¹³/
Wenzhou /d͡zo³¹/
Hui Shexian /t͡sʰa⁴⁴/
Tunxi /t͡sɔ⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /t͡sa¹³/
Xiangtan /d͡zɒ¹²/
Gan Nanchang /t͡sʰɑ²⁴/
Hakka Meixian /t͡sʰa¹¹/
Taoyuan /t͡sʰɑ¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /t͡sʰa²¹/
Nanning /t͡sʰa²¹/
Hong Kong /t͡sʰa²¹/
Min Xiamen (Hokkien) /ta³⁵/
/te³⁵/
Fuzhou (Eastern Min) /ta⁵³/
Jian'ou (Northern Min) /ta³³/
Shantou (Teochew) /te⁵⁵/
Haikou (Hainanese) /ʔdɛ³¹/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (11)
Final () (98)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () II
Fanqie
Baxter drae
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ɖˠa/
Pan
Wuyun
/ɖᵚa/
Shao
Rongfen
/ȡa/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ɖaɨ/
Li
Rong
/ȡa/
Wang
Li
/ȡa/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ȡʱa/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
chá
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
caa4
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 15747
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
𡨀
Old
Chinese
/*rlaː/
Notes 𣘻

Definitions

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  1. tea (plant, leaves)
      ―  zhòng chá  ―  to grow tea
  2. tea (beverage made by infusing tea leaves in hot water) (Classifier: ; )
    绿  ―  chá  ―  green tea
      ―  chá  ―  to make tea
      ―  yī bēi chá  ―  a cup of tea
  3. certain kinds of beverage or liquid food
      ―  liángchá  ―  Chinese herb tea
    冬瓜  ―  dōngguāchá  ―  winter melon punch
    杏仁  ―  xìngrénchá  ―  almond tea
  4. Chinese medicine
    午時午时  ―  wǔshíchá  ―  Afternoon Tea
  5. yum cha
      ―  zǎochá  ―  morning yum cha
    [Cantonese, trad.]
    [Cantonese, simp.]
    heoi3 caa4 lau4 jam2 caan1 caa4 [Jyutping]
    to go yumcha at a dim sum restaurant
  6. (obsolete) a moment (the time it takes to drink a cup of tea)
  7. (dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese, Gan, Xiang, Wu) boiled or boiling water
    [Shanghainese]  ―  7chiq 6zo [Wugniu]  ―  to drink water
  8. a surname

Synonyms

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Compounds

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Descendants

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Sino-Xenic ():
  • Japanese: (ちゃ) (cha) (see there for further descendants)
  • Okinawan: (ちゃー) (chā)
  • Korean: 차(茶) (cha)
  • Vietnamese: trà ()

Others:

  • Cantonese: (de1, to chat) (via Teochew)
  • ? Cebuano: tsa (via Cantonese)
  • Classical Persian: چَا (čā) (via Mandarin), چَای (čāy) (via Mandarin, with Persian suffix -y(i) added) (see there for further descendants)
  • Drung: cha
  • Dutch: thee (via Hokkien) (see there for further descendants)
  • English: cha, char (via Cantonese)
  • Hlai: dhe (via Hainanese)
  • Khmer: តែ (tae)
  • Malay: ca (via Cantonese)
  • Malay: teh (via Hokkien)
    • Indonesian: teh
  • Mongolian: цай (caj), ᠴᠠᠢ (čai) (via Mandarin)
  • Portuguese: chá (via Cantonese)
  • Punjabi: (via Mandarin)
    Gurmukhi script: ਚਾਹ (cāh)
    Shahmukhi script: چاہ (cāh)
  • Spanish: (via Hokkien)
    • Asturian:
    • Basque: te
    • Catalan: te
    • Galician:
    • Navajo: dééh
    • Occitan:
  • Proto-Tai: *ɟaːᴬ
  • ? Tagalog: tsa (via Cantonese)
  • Tibetan: (ja)
  • Vietnamese: chè (, 𦷨)
  • Yonaguni: さー

References

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Japanese

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Kanji

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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. tea

Readings

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  • Go-on: じゃ (ja)ぢや (dya, historical)
  • Kan-on: (ta)
  • Tō-on: (sa, Jōyō)
  • Kan’yō-on: ちゃ (cha, Jōyō)

Compounds

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Etymology

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Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja
 
(cha): a cup of tea.
Kanji in this term
ちゃ
Grade: 2
kan'yōon

From various lects of Middle Chinese (MC drae). Compare Mandarin (chá), Hakka (chhà), Cantonese (caa4). Doublet of チャイ (chai).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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(ちゃ) (cha

  1. tea (not used in isolation in modern Japanese)
  2. brown

Usage notes

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  • This term is not used on its own in modern Japanese. For the tea sense, this is used either with the honorific prefix (o-), as (ちゃ) (ocha), or in a compound such as (くき)(ちゃ) (kukicha, literally stem tea) or (りょく)(ちゃ) (ryokucha, green tea).
    (ちゃ)はいかがですか。
    Ocha wa ikaga desuka.
    How about some tea? (Would you like some tea?)
  • For the brown sense, this is used with the color suffix (いろ) (iro), as in (ちゃ)(いろ) (chairo, brown, literally tea color).

Synonyms

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Descendants

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

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Etymology 1

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From Early Mandarin (*tʂʰaᴸᴸ). Compare Mandarin (chá), Hakka (chhà), Cantonese (caa4).

Pronunciation

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Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

(eumhun (cha cha))

  1. hanja form? of (tea)

Usage notes

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  • This reading is used as a standalone word to mean "tea."

Compounds

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Etymology 2

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From Middle Chinese (ɖˠa).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 (Yale: ttà)
Middle Korean
Text Eumhun
Gloss (hun) Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[2] (Yale: chà) (Yale: )

Pronunciation

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Hanja

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(eumhun (cha da))

  1. (only in compounds) hanja form? of (tea)
  2. (only in compounds) hanja form? of (brown)

Compounds

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References

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  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [3]

Vietnamese

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Han character

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: Hán Việt readings: trà[1][2][3][4][5][6]
: Nôm readings: trà[1][2][3], chè[1][2][3], chà[1], [1], già[1][2], chòe/choè[1][2]

  1. chữ Hán form of trà (tea).
  2. Nôm form of chè (tea).

References

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