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chá

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word chá

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1565 a text quoted by Dalgado, spelt chà More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Chinese 茶
Ultimate origin
Chinese 茶

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈʃa/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈʃa/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /ˈt͡ʃa/[1]

Forms

chá m (plural chás)[1] Houaiss records chà in 1565, cha in 1569, chá in 1624 and xá in 1813.[2] A private letter of 1758 writes Xar.[3] Vieira (1871–1874) still enters the word under xá and calls chá the preferable spelling.[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Chinese 茶 (chá, “tea”), in its Mandarin form, according to Houaiss, Cunha and Aurélio.[2][5][6] Wiktionary prefers the Cantonese 茶 (caa4), since the Portuguese tea trade was centred in the Cantonese-speaking south of China.[1]

Houaiss, following Dalgado, explains that the Chinese character for tea has two pronunciations: the Mandarin one, which Japan, Indochina, Portugal, Greece, Russia and the Slavic languages adopted, and Hokkien 茶 (te) in Fujian, which reached most other European languages through Dutch thee and also spread to the Malayo-Polynesian languages.[2] The Academia's dictionary gives the same account.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, taken from Dalgado, is of 1565, spelt chà.[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) thought it a Japanese word, because the best tea came from Japan, and Feijó (1734) describes chá as small leaves brought from Japan for drinks.[8][9]

Semantic evolution

From the plant and its dried leaves the word passed to the infusion, then to infusions of any herb (chá de camomila) and to the light afternoon meal or social gathering where tea is served.[2][5] Figueiredo (1899) already has the figurative sense “an indirect taunt, a reproach”.[10] Brazilian informal speech added “habit”, “a telling-off” and “nuisance” in the north-east, chá for marijuana, and chá de bebê for a baby shower.[2][1] Não ter tomado chá em pequeno “not to have had tea as a child” means to be ill-mannered.[2][11]

Through Portuguese the word reached Tetum and Nheengatu, and Spanish cha, from which Tagalog tsaa comes.[1]

Timeline

  • 1565 – first record, spelt chà.[2]
  • 1569 – the spelling cha.[2]
  • 1624 – the spelling chá.[2]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the plant and how the leaves are prepared.[8]
  • 1758 – a private letter writes Xar.[3]
  • 1813 – the spelling xá; the derivative chaleira “kettle” is first recorded.[2][5]
  • 1899 – Figueiredo records the figurative sense “taunt, reproach”.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The tea plant (Camellia sinensis), also called chá-da-índia.[2][1]
  2. Its leaves, dried and prepared for infusion.[2][6]
  3. Tea, the drink made by infusing these leaves: Ofereceu-nos um chá preto bem quente.[2][1]
  4. An infusion of other plants; a herbal tea, tisane.[2][12]
  5. A light afternoon meal, or a social gathering where tea is served.[2][1]
  6. (figurative, informal) Good manners.[2][12]
  7. (figurative, informal) A mess, a muddle.[2]
  8. (Brazil, informal) A habit, a regular practice.[2]
  9. (north-eastern Brazil, informal) A reprimand; a nuisance.[2]
  10. (Brazil) A party at which someone receives gifts before an event, a shower: chá de bebê.[1]
  11. (Brazil, slang) maconha.[2]

Word family

  • chaleira
  • chazinho

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. chá
  3. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. chá
  4. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 1018
  5. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. chá
  6. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. chá
  7. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. chá
  8. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chá
  9. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chá
  10. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 280
  11. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. chá
  12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. chá
Cite this entry

“Chá.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/ch%C3%A1. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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