What does 茶 mean in Chinese?

茶 (chá) means "tea" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 茶?

茶 is written with 9 strokes, starting from the 艹 (grass) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 茶?

The radical of 茶 is 艹 (grass, Kangxi radical #140). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 菜, 草, 落, 花.

How many strokes does 茶 have?

The Chinese character 茶 has 9 strokes.

What HSK level is 茶?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 茶 is a character to recognise at HSK 1 and to write by hand at HSK 2 (the handwriting list HSK 1 and 2 share).

茶 (chá): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

茶

chá

tea

HSK 1 character 9 strokes Radical: 艹 (grass)

Quick Answer

茶 (chá) means "tea" with 9 strokes, radical 艹 (grass), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 茶 →Animated stroke-order for 茶 →

Pronunciation

chá

Meaning

Primary: tea

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

茶 has no oracle bone form. It is a Tang-dynasty respelling of the older character 荼, which depicted a bitter plant under the grass radical 艹 and originally referred to a bitter herb or sow-thistle. The lower part 余 gives the sound, and the grass radical marks it as a plant.

Form evolution

In pre-Tang texts the drink was written 荼. During the Tang, scholars (notably Lu Yu in the 茶经) dropped one horizontal stroke from 荼 to produce 茶, distinguishing the new beverage from the older bitter-herb sense. Seal and clerical forms show 荼; regular script stabilises the reduced 茶 from the 8th century onward.

How the meaning evolved

The earliest sense of 荼 was a generic bitter plant. As tea drinking spread from Sichuan during the Han and Six Dynasties, 荼 came to specify the tea plant, and the graphic reform to 茶 locked in the new meaning. Modern Mandarin keeps 茶 for the leaves, the drink, and by extension any brewed infusion such as 奶茶 or 凉茶.

Cultural note

Nearly every word for tea in the world descends from either the Min pronunciation te (giving English tea, French thé) or the Mandarin/Cantonese chá (giving Russian чай, Hindi chai). The one-stroke difference between 荼 and 茶 is a favourite example in Chinese calligraphy classes of how small graphic changes carry major lexical weight.