തേ

Malayalam

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch thee (“tea”), in turn from Hokkien 茶 (tê). Doublet of ചായ (cāya). Cognate with Sinhalese තේ (tē, “tea”) and Tamil டீ (ṭī), தேய் (tēy).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t̪eː/

Noun

തേ • (tē) (chiefly obsolete by itself, see usage notes)

Tea

1. tea

   Synonym: ചായ (cāya)

Usage notes

• The term ചായ (cāya) is the most common word used in Malayalam for the beverage. തേ (tē) is largely obsolete except in the compound word തേയില (tēyila).

Derived terms

• തേയില (tēyila)

References

• Kailash Nath (2019), “തേ”, in “Olam” Kailash Nath's Malayalam → English dictionary