早茶 (zǎo chá) — Cantonese-style morning tea with dim sum (a social meal tradition); spring-picked tea (first harvest of the year)

Definition

In Cantonese culture, 早茶 means the social morning dim-sum meal (广东早茶). The same words also mean 'spring-picked tea' (first harvest, e.g. 明前茶), a separate tea-sense — context decides which.

noun
Cantonese-style morning tea with dim sum (a social meal tradition)spring-picked tea (first harvest of the year)

Examples

  • 早茶，。
    Zhōu mò wǒ men yì jiā rén qù hē zǎo chá, diǎn le xiā jiǎo hé shāo mài.
    Our family went for dim sum on the weekend and ordered shrimp dumplings and siu mai.
  • 早茶。
    Guǎng dōng rén xǐ huan zài zǎo shàng jiǔ diǎn zuǒ yòu qù chá lóu hē zǎo chá.
    Cantonese people like to go to the teahouse for morning tea around nine in the morning.
  • 早茶，。
    Zhè zhǒng zǎo chá shì qīng míng qián cǎi zhāi de, wèi dào tè bié qīng xiāng.
    This spring tea was picked before Qingming and has an especially fragrant taste.

Origin

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.

早zǎomorning
茶chátea

The '早' morning or early-spring sense specifies the kind of '茶' tea.

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
日日rìsun
Sound part声符shēngfú
棗
棗zǎo早zǎo
Same sound today

The form 早 pairs 日 (sun) with 棗, which gives the sound; an earlier shape of 早 was a picture of an acorn.

Open 早 →

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.

Open 茶 →

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