цай

See also: цяй and чай

Mongolian

цай

Etymology

From Classical Mongolian ᠴᠠᠢ (čai), from Chinese 茶 (chá).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡sʰɛː/
• Syllabification: цай (1 syllable)

Noun

цай • (caj) (Mongolian spelling ᠴᠠᠢ (čai)); (hidden-n declension)

1. tea

Declension

    Declension of цай

nominative	цай (caj)
genitive	цайны (cajny)
substantive genitive	цайнд (cajnd)
dative-locative	цайг (cajg)
definite accusative	цайнаас (cajnaas)
ablative	цайгаар (cajgaar)
instrumental	цайтай (cajtaj)
comitative	цай руу (caj ruu)
directional	{{{9}}}

Derived terms

• цайны газар (cajny gazar, “café”)

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Southern Altai

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡sɑi̯], [tˢɑɪ̯]

Etymology 1

Presumably from Old Turkic [script needed] (tāɣ/tau), from Proto-Turkic *tāu, *tāɣ, *dāɣ (“mountain”), *dāg (“mountain”).

Alternative forms

• тай (tay), тағ, таг (tag), дай (day), даг (dag)

Noun

цай • (cay)

1. mountain

Usage notes

The voiceless form (ц or т) appear more common in southern and southeastern dialects. Dialectal variation in Altai is large so it is possible confusion may arise, however, context will resolve the clarity.

Etymology 2

Ultimately, from Chinese 茶 (chá). Compare Turkish çay, Russian чай (čaj), Erzya цяй (ćaj). Some folk etymology links it to Tibetan ཚྭའི (tshwa'i, “salt”) because of the traditional salty tea, but no evidence supports this.

Noun

цай • (cay)

1. tea

Usage notes

Traditionally it has included salty tea, but in modern use often not.

Etymology 3

From Proto-Turkic *čāj.

Noun

цай • (cay)

1. river, stream

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Tuvan

Etymology

From Chinese 茶 (chá).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tsɑi]

Noun

цай • (tsay)

1. tea