Cha
/tʃɑː/noun
An informal word for tea, especially in British and Australian English.
Did you know?“Cha” and “tea” come from the same Chinese character 茶, but their different sounds reveal whether tea traveled overland or through southern Chinese ports.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Chinese
Old Chinese
茶
“Tea; the plant and its prepared drink”
Early Medieval China
Middle Chinese
茶 (cha)
“Tea, pronounced with a form ancestral to cha”
8th Century
Japanese
cha
“Tea, borrowed from Chinese into Japanese”
17th Century
Dutch
thee
“Tea, borrowed through a southern Chinese coastal pronunciation”
18th Century
English
cha
“Tea, adopted as an informal term, especially in British usage”
Modern English
English
cha
“An informal name for tea”