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tea

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A beverage made by steeping tea leaves in water.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

tee
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈti

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A beverage made by steeping tea leaves in water

    “Iced tea is a cooling drink.”

  2. Dried leaves of the tea shrub; used to make tea

    “The store shelves held many different kinds of tea.”

  3. uncountable

    The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.

  4. uncountable

    The dried leaves or buds of the tea plant; (countable) a variety of such leaves.

  5. uncountable

    The drink made by infusing these dried leaves or buds in hot water.

  6. A reception or party at which tea is served

    “We met at the Dean's tea for newcomers.”

verb

  1. intransitive

    To drink tea.

  2. intransitive

    To take afternoon tea (a light meal).

  3. transitive

    To give tea to.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

How It’s Used

The word’s distinct uses, one example each.

  • Beverage / drinknoun

    “Iced tea is a cooling drink.”

  • Driednoun

    “The store shelves held many different kinds of tea.”

  • Receptionnoun

    “We met at the Dean's tea for newcomers.”

More ways to use tea

  • “Iced tea is a cooling drink.”noun
  • “We met at the Dean's tea for newcomers.”noun
  • “The store shelves held many different kinds of tea.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Beverage / drink

afternoon tea

Reception

tea party

Other combinations

green teatea roomtea ceremonytea tablesome teahot tea

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Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.