茶

茶 U+8336, 茶 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8336 ← 茵 [U+8335] CJK Unified Ideographs 茷 → [U+8337]

茶 U+F9FE, 茶 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9FE ← 什 [U+F9FD] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 刺 → [U+F9FF]

Stroke order

茶 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 廿人木 (TOD), four-corner 4490₄, composition ⿳艹𠆢朩(GV) or ⿳艹𠆢木(HTJK))

• 嗏 搽 𦴶 𣗪 𤨓 𦷨 𤯊 𥧣 𦓅 𫅷 𫉕 𮥗 𥻹 𨃓 𨢕 𨪩 𩴊 𪄦 𬞠

• 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

• Unihan data for U+F9FE

trad.		茶
simp. #		茶
alternative forms		荼 𦯬 𣘻 𣗪 𦹍

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

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

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 荼 (*rlaː, “bitter plant”).

茶

1. tea (plant, leaves)

   種茶／种茶  ―  zhòng chá  ―  to grow tea

2. tea (beverage made by infusing tea leaves in hot water) (Classifier: 杯; 壺／壶)

   綠茶／绿茶  ―  lǜchá  ―  green tea

   沏茶  ―  qīchá  ―  to make tea

   一杯茶  ―  yī bēi chá  ―  a cup of tea

3. certain kinds of beverage or liquid food

   涼茶／凉茶  ―  liángchá  ―  Chinese herb tea

   冬瓜茶  ―  dōngguāchá  ―  winter melon punch

   杏仁茶  ―  xìngrénchá  ―  almond tea

4. Chinese medicine

   午時茶／午时茶  ―  wǔshíchá  ―  Afternoon Tea

5. yum cha

   早茶  ―  zǎochá  ―  morning yum cha

   去茶樓飲餐茶 [Cantonese, trad.]
   去茶楼饮餐茶 [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

   吃茶 [Shanghainese]  ―  ⁷chiq ⁶zo [Wugniu]  ―  to drink water

8. a surname

Others:

• “茶”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03475

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. tea

• Go-on: じゃ (ja)^{←ぢや (dya, historical)}
• Kan-on: た (ta)
• Tō-on: さ (sa, Jōyō)
• Kan’yō-on: ちゃ (cha, Jōyō)

Kanji in this term
茶
ちゃ Grade: 2
kan'yōon

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

• (Tokyo) ちゃ [chà] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕa̠]

茶(ちゃ) • (cha) 

1. tea

   Synonym: 茗 (mei)

2. synonym of 茶の木 (cha no ki, “tea plant, Camellia sinensis”)
3. brown

• This term is not used on its own in modern Japanese. For the tea sense, this is used either with the honorific prefix お (o-), as お茶(ちゃ) (ocha), or in a compound such as 茎(くき)茶(ちゃ) (kukicha, literally “stem tea”) or 緑(りょく)茶(ちゃ) (ryokucha, “green tea”).

  お茶(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 色(いろ) (iro), as in 茶(ちゃ)色(いろ) (chairo, “brown”, literally “tea color”).

• → Ainu: チャ (ca)
• → Nivkh: ча (ț’a)
• → Yonaguni: サー (sa:)

• 湯(ゆ) (yu): hot water; (by extension) tea

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

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰa̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [차]

Wikisource

茶 (eumhun 차 차 (cha cha))

1. hanja form^? of 차 (“tea”)

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

From Middle Chinese 茶 (drae).

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

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ta̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [다]

茶 (eumhun 차 다 (cha da))

1. (only in compounds) hanja form^? of 다 (“tea”)
2. (only in compounds) hanja form^? of 다 (“brown”)

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

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

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