茶 (chá): tea

茶 (chá) is a Chinese character meaning “tea.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic), 人 (structural) and 木 (structural). It ranks #1264 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 茶 plant. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish), 节 (jié, festival, section).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. tea

Etymology & Origin

茶

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹⿱人木 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing 茶 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 茶

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
茶叶nounchá yètea4
绿茶nounlǜ chágreen tea2
红茶nounhóng cháblack tea2
奶茶nounnǎi chámilk tea2

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
喝茶verbhē cháto drink tea
茶会nounchá huìtea party
茶壶nounchá húteapot
茶杯nounchá bēiteacup
茶几nounchá jīsmall side table
热茶rè cháhot tea
茶点nounchá diǎntea and cake
茶话会nounchá huà huìtea party
泡茶verbpào cháto make tea
茶馆nounchá guǎnteahouse
茶水nounchá shuǐtea prepared in large quantity using inexpensive tea leaves
茶具nounchá jùtea set
茶色nounchá sèdark brown
品茶verbpǐn cháto taste tea
柠檬茶nounníng méng chálemon tea
100
Total compounds
47
As first character
49
As last character
4
As middle character

茶 appears in 100 compound words: 47 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 4 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 茶 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

沏qī
0.51054 co-occurrences
碗wǎn
0.495910 co-occurrences
奶nǎi
0.4952,336 co-occurrences
渴kě
0.48819 co-occurrences
喝hē
0.4851,664 co-occurrences
煲bāo
0.482254 co-occurrences
壶hú
0.479508 co-occurrences
叶yè
0.4753,719 co-occurrences
泡pào
0.4721,480 co-occurrences
餐cān
0.4682,904 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

残茶剩饭cáncháshèngfànHSK 6+

remains of a meal; leftovers; crumbs from the table

phrase
茶饭不思cháfànbùsīHSK 2+

to be distressed or worried

phrase
茶余饭饱chá yú fàn bǎoHSK 5+

see 茶餘飯後|茶余饭后

phrase
茶余饭后cháyúfànhòuHSK 5+

leisure time; free time

phrase
茶余酒后cháyújiǔhòuHSK 5+

leisure time; free time

phrase
粗茶淡饭cūchádànfànHSK 5+

to lead a simple life; to live without fancy food or drink

phrase
茉莉花茶mòlìhuā cháHSK 7+

jasmine tea

noun
三茶六饭sān chá liù fànHSK 1+

lit. to offer three kinds of tea and six different dishes; to be extremely considerate towards guests (idiom)

phrase

Showing 8 of 9 idioms containing 茶.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

下午茶时间到了,我们去喝杯咖啡吧。

Xiàwǔchá shíjiān dào le, wǒmen qù hē bēi kāfēi ba.

It's afternoon tea time; let's go have a cup of coffee.

Am730Feb 2026

英国奥斯卡|里安纳度“甜茶”大热倒灶 英国演员爆冷封帝 《一战再战...

yīng guó ào sī kǎ lǐ ān nà dù tián chá dà rè dǎo zào yīng guó yǎn yuán bào lěng fēng dì yī zhàn zài zhàn . . .

British Oscar|Leonardo's "sweet tea" is a hit, and the British actor is upset and sealed the emperor "World War I and Fight Again...

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

每天喝咖啡和茶 失智风险最高降三成

měi tiān hē kā fēi hé chá shī zhì fēng xiǎn zuì gāo jiàng sān chéng

Drinking coffee and tea every day reduces the risk of dementia by up to 30%

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

新春茶叙 赖总统会五院聚焦关税

xīn chūn chá xù lài zǒng tǒng huì wǔ yuàn jù jiāo guān shuì

New Year's tea narrative Lai Presidential Council Fifth Court focused on tariffs

百度新闻Feb 2026

茶香氤氲,温情暖暖~看阿婆爷叔如何解锁“行...

chá xiāng 氤 氲 , wēn qíng nuǎn nuǎn kàn ā pó yé shū rú hé jiě suǒ háng . . .

The tea is fragrant, warm and warm~ See how grandma and uncle unlock "okay...

百度新闻Feb 2026

茶百道新春送暖发起“致敬城市守夜人计划”

chá bǎi dào xīn chūn sòng nuǎn fā qǐ zhì jìng chéng shì shǒu yè rén jì huá

Chabadao Launches "Tribute to the City's Nightwatchmen Program" in Chinese New Year

Tatoeba

你能再给我点茶吗?

Nǐ néng zài gěi wǒ diǎn chá ma?

Would you please give me some more tea?

Tatoeba

您想要茶还是咖啡?

Nín xiǎngyào chá háishi kāfēi?

Would you like tea or coffee?

Tatoeba

我们用喝茶的时间谈谈,好吗?

Wǒmen yòng hēchá de shíjiān tántán, hǎo ma?

Let's talk over a cup of tea, shall we?

Tatoeba

你不和我一起喝点茶吗?

Nǐ bù hé wǒ yīqǐ hē diǎn chá ma?

Won't you have some tea with me?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (plant) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chá

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 茶 (chá) mean in Chinese?
茶 (chá) primarily means "tea." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1264 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 茶 have?
茶 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 茶?
The radical associated with 茶 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 茶?
茶 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 人 (structural), 木 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹⿱人木 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 茶?
Common words with 茶 include: 喝茶 (hē chá, "to drink tea"); 茶叶 (chá yè, "tea"); 茶会 (chá huì, "tea party"); 绿茶 (lǜ chá, "green tea"); 茶壶 (chá hú, "teapot"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 茶 (chá)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chá: 查 (to check, to investigate), 察 (to observe), 差 (difference), 插 (to insert), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 茶 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 茶 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 茶 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.