お茶

Japanese
Kanji in this term
茶
ちゃ
Grade: 2
kan’yōon
Alternative spelling
御茶

Etymology

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 茶 (cha, “tea”).

Pronunciation

Noun

お茶(ちゃ) • (ocha) 

  1. tea, usually green tea
    お茶(ちゃ)はいかがですか。
    Ocha wa ikaga desu ka.
    How about some tea? (Would you like some tea?)
  2. tea ceremony
  3. snack with tea or coffee
  4. the act of having tea

Usage notes
  • Using お茶 is considered neutral (i.e., neither polite nor impolite), while the bare 茶 is markedly impolite to refer to tea. The prefix お (o-) was originally an honorific, but is now part of the word in modern Japanese.

Verb

お茶(ちゃ)する • (ocha suru) intransitive suru (stem お茶(ちゃ)し (ocha shi), past お茶(ちゃ)した (ocha shita))

  1. (colloquial) go out for tea

Usage notes

お茶 generally refers to a cup of hot green tea. In general, black tea is referred to as 紅茶 (kōcha), though it can be implicitly included within the term お茶, which literally just means "tea."

The honorific お (o-) in お茶 is normally written in hiragana, though you will see it from time to time in more formal or official writing as 御 (as in 御茶). Also, お茶 is one of the unusual cases of the honorific お (or 御 (o-)) that can be used to refer to anyone, including the speaker. See the usage note at 御-.

茶する without the honorific お is rarely used.

Related terms

Descendants
  • → Amis: ociya
  • → Atayal: ocya'
  • → Bunun: ucia
  • → Paiwan: ucia
  • → Rukai: ucia
  • → Sakizaya: ucya
  • → Taroko: ocya
  • → Tsou: 'ocea

References
  1. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Second edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō
  2. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
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