The word “tea” may seem simple and universal, but it actually serves as a fascinating linguistic map, tracing the historical trade routes that carried the beverage across continents. Whether you call it “tea,” “chai,” “cha,” or something else entirely, the word you use likely reveals how the drink first arrived in your country, by land or by sea.
This linguistic split tells a story of cultural exchange, trade networks, and the global spread of one of the world’s most beloved beverages.
Chinese Origins
All words for tea around the world ultimately originate from Chinese. However, China has many dialects, and the word for tea is pronounced differently depending on the region.
In Mandarin, the word is “chá” (茶), while in Min Nan, a southern Chinese dialect spoken in Fujian, it is pronounced “te” or “tay.” These two pronunciations took very different routes out of China, carried by merchants traveling either overland or by sea.
“Cha” and the Land Route
The form “cha” entered various languages through overland trade routes such as the Silk Road, which connected China with Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. As Chinese tea made its way westward by camel and caravan, so too did the Mandarin pronunciation of the word.
This is why countries along or near these overland routes such as India, Russia, Persia, and many Arabic-speaking regions use a variation of “cha.”
In Hindi and Urdu, the word is “chai,” a derivation of “cha” that later found its way into English as “chai tea,” though that phrase is technically redundant. In Russian, it’s “чай” (chai), in Persian, it’s “چای” (chay), and in Turkish, it's “çay.”
These linguistic similarities are not coincidental; they are the direct result of the word traveling alongside tea along these historic inland trade routes.
“Tea” and the Sea Route
The other linguistic path for the word “tea” followed maritime trade routes established later, during the era of European exploration and colonization in the 16th and 17th centuries.
European traders, particularly the Dutch and the Portuguese, began importing tea from coastal China, specifically from ports in the Fujian province where Min Nan was spoken. In this region, tea was called “te” or “tay,” and this pronunciation was adopted by the Dutch as “thee,” which became “tea” in English and “teh” in the Indonesian Archipelago which was once a part of Dutch colonies.
From there, the word spread to other European languages that were connected by sea trade. The French say “thé,” the Germans “Tee,” the Italians “tè,” and the Spanish “té.” These languages all adopted some variation of the Min Nan form, thanks to their maritime contact with Chinese tea through European trading companies.
Some Exceptions
While the majority of the world's languages fall into one of these two categories which are land-route “cha” or sea-route “tea”, there are some exceptions that reveal unique cultural and trade relationships. For instance, the Portuguese word for tea is “chá,” even though Portugal was a major sea power.
This is because the Portuguese began trading with China before the Dutch and did so primarily through Macau, where Mandarin was the dominant language, hence the use of “chá” rather than “tea.”
Another notable exception is in East Africa. In Swahili, the word for tea is “chai,” reflecting the influence of Arab and Indian traders along the Swahili Coast. These merchants used the land-based Silk Road as well as maritime trade routes in the Indian Ocean, bringing both tea and the “cha” form of the word with them.
