"tea" in seven languages
Meaningtea
Spanish
/te/
masc.borrowed · Min Chinese tê, through the European tea trade
French
/te/
masc.borrowed · Min Chinese tê, through the European tea trade
Italian
/tɛ/
masc.borrowed · Min Chinese tê, through the European tea trade
Portuguese
/ʃa/
masc.other source · Chinese chá (Mandarin and Cantonese), through the Portuguese at Macau
Portuguese took the chá form, not the Min tê that reached its sisters by sea through the Dutch.
Romanian
/tʃaj/
neut.other source · Russian čaj (from Chinese chá)
Catalan
/tɛ/
masc.borrowed · Min Chinese tê, through the European tea trade
English
/ti/
from Latin/French · Dutch thee, from Min Chinese tê
The ancestor
Min Chinese tê‘tea’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The sea trade from the Min-speaking coast of China brought the te form to Western Europe. Portuguese chá comes from the other Chinese form, cha, which is also the one Russian chai and Turkish çay share.
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¿Quieres una taza de té?
- frTu veux une tasse de thé ?
- itVuoi una tazza di tè?
- ptQuer uma xícara de chá?
- roVrei o ceașcă de ceai?
- caVols una tassa de te?
- enWould you like a cup of tea?