Learn Arabic › A2 › شاي
شاي
tea /ˈʃaːj/
nounA2#1105 most common
Also: tea (the beverage), tea leaves, a cup of tea
Example sentences
أُحِبُّ الشّايَ.
I like tea.
أَشرَبُ كوبَ شايٍ كُلَّ صَباحٍ.
I drink a cup of tea every morning.
هل تُفَضِّلُ الشّايَ أَم القَهوَةَ؟
Do you prefer tea or coffee?
في مِصرَ، يُقَدَّمُ الشّايُ بالنَّعناعِ لِلضُّيوفِ.
In Egypt, mint tea is served to guests.
لا يَكتَمِلُ أيُّ لِقاءٍ عائِليٍّ عِندَنا دونَ كوبٍ مِنَ الشّايِ الثّقيلِ.
No family gathering at our house is complete without a cup of strong tea.
يَرَى البَعضُ أنَّ طَقسَ تَحضيرِ الشّايِ وتَقديمِهِ يَختَزِلُ كَرَمَ الضِّيافَةِ في أبسَطِ صُوَرِهِ.
Some see the ritual of preparing and serving tea as distilling hospitality into its simplest form.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | شايٌ | شاياتٌ |
| Genitive | شايٍ | شاياتٍ |
| Accusative | شايًا | شاياتٍ |
| Vocative | يا شايُ | يا شاياتُ |
Word family
شاي أخضرgreen tea
شاي أسودblack tea
شاي بالنعناعmint tea
شايخانةteahouse (Levantine/Iraqi, also borrowed)
Etymology
شاي is a loanword, not native Arabic vocabulary. It entered through Persian چای (čāy), which took the word from northern Chinese 茶 (chá). This is the same 'cha' branch that produced Turkish çay and Russian чай, as opposed to the 'te' branch from coastal Min Chinese behind English 'tea' and French 'thé'.
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