茶叶 (chá yè) — tea leaves; the dried leaves used to brew tea

Definition

茶叶 refers to the dried tea leaves themselves, not the brewed drink (which is 茶). It's the ingredient measured in 盒/罐/包/片 before you steep it.

noun

tea leavesthe dried leaves used to brew tea

Measure word · 盒, 罐, 包, 片

茶叶。
Wǒ mǎi le yì hé chá yè zuò lǐ wù.
I bought a box of tea leaves as a gift.
茶叶。
Zhè zhǒng chá yè pào chū lái de chá hěn xiāng.
The tea brewed from this kind of tea leaves is very fragrant.
茶叶。
Lǜ chá hé hóng chá dōu shì yòng chá yè zuò de.
Green tea and black tea are both made from tea leaves.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

茶chátea; tea plant

"茶" identifies the kind or source of the leaf, "叶" is the leaf; together they mean tea leaves.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

余

余yú茶chá

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 茶, the 艹 part marks a plant, and the 余 part gives the sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口十叶

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

十

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 叶 pairs 口 (mouth) with 十 (ten) as an old form meaning cooperate; it later came to mean leaf because it sounded similar.

Appears in