different between tea vs people

English

Etymology 1

Circa 1650, from Dutch thee, from Min Nan ? (tê) (Amoy dialect), from Old Chinese, ultimately from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la (“leaf, tea”).

Introduced to English and other Western European languages by the Dutch East India Company, who sourced their tea in Amoy; compare Malay teh along the same trade route. Doublet of chai and cha (and, distantly, lahpet), from same Proto-Sino-Tibetan root; see discussion of cognates.

Alternative forms

• tay

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: t?, IPA^(key): /ti/, [t?i]
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: t?, IPA^(key): /ti?/, [t?i?]
• Rhymes: -i?
• Homophones: T, te, tee, ti

Noun

tea (countable and uncountable, plural teas)

1. (uncountable) The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.

2. (uncountable) The dried leaves or buds of the tea plant; (countable) a variety of such leaves.

3. (uncountable) The drink made by infusing these dried leaves or buds in hot water.
4. (uncountable) Any similar drink made by infusing parts of various other plants.

5. (uncountable) Meat stock served as a hot drink.

6. (countable, Commonwealth of Nations, northern US) A cup or (East Asia, Southern US) glass of any of these drinks, often with milk, sugar, lemon, and/or tapioca pearls.
7. (uncountable, Britain) A light midafternoon meal, typically but not necessarily including tea.
   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 23:

     Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast. In [public schools] where alcohol, tobacco and drugs were forbidden, it was essential that something should take their place as a powerful and public totem of virility and cool. Toast, for reasons lost in time, was the substance chosen.

8. (uncountable, Commonwealth of Nations) Synonym of supper, the main evening meal, whether or not it includes tea.

9. (cricket) The break in play between the second and third sessions.
10. (slang, dated) Synonym of marijuana.
    • 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, page 103:

      So they were evidence. Evidence of what? That a man occasionally smoked a stick of tea, a man who looked as if any touch of the exotic would appeal to him. On the other hand lots of tough guys smoked marijuana […] .

    • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow & al., Really the Blues, Payback Press, 1999, page 74:

      Tea puts a musician in a real masterly sphere, and that's why so many jazzmen have used it.

    • 1947 March 11, William Burroughs, letter:

      Here in Texas possession of tea is a felony calling for 2 years.

11. (slang, especially gay slang and African-American Vernacular) Information, especially gossip.
    • 2015, Sonya Shuman, Doors of the Church Are Open: Smoke & Mirrors by Sonya Shuman:

      "What's the tea on you and China? Where she at Alicia? You should know where ya baby at."

Usage notes

In most places tea is assumed to mean hot tea, while in the southern United States, it is assumed to mean iced tea.

Synonyms

• (plant): tea plant, tea tree, tea bush
• (leaves): tea leaves
• (beverage): see Thesaurus:tea
• (beverages similar to tea): herb tea, herbal tea, infusion, tisane
• (a light meal): see afternoon tea & Thesaurus:meal

Hyponyms

• (beverage): see Thesaurus:tea

Derived terms

Descendants

• Gullah: tea
• Jamaican Creole: tea
• ? Abenaki: ti
• ? Chickasaw: tii'
• ? Cocopa: ?i·
• ? Cornish: té
• ? Cree:

  Canadian syllabics: ?? (tiy)

  Latin: tiy

• ? Inuktitut: ? (tii)
• ? Irish: tae
• ? Maori: t?
• ? Malecite-Passamaquoddy: ti
• ? Mikasuki: ti'g'tlo'q, ji'gitlo'q (“kettle”) (from "tea kettle")
• ? Panamint: tii
• ? Telugu: ?? (??)
• ? Unami: ti
• ? Welsh: te

Translations

See tea/translations § Noun.

Verb

tea (third-person singular simple present teas, present participle teaing, simple past and past participle teaed)

1. To drink tea.
2. To take afternoon tea (the light meal).
   • 1877, The Bicycling Times and Tourist's Gazette (page 38)

     The wind was high and the hills ditto, and both being against us we were late in reaching Hitchin (30 from Cambridge), so giving up the idea of reaching Oxford we toiled on through Luton, on to Dunstable (47), where we teaed moderately […]

Etymology 2

From Chinese ? (“tea”).

Noun

tea (plural teas)

1. A moment, a historical unit of time from China, about the amount of time needed to quickly drink a traditional cup of tea. It is now found in Chinese-language historical fiction.

Usage notes

This term is found in English translations of Chinese-language historical fiction, where it is used to give the work an ancient Chinese feel.

References

Anagrams

• -ate, AET, Até, Atë, ETA, a.e.t., aet, ate, eat, eta, æt.

Basque

Noun

tea

1. absolutive singular of te

Ese

Noun

tea

1. feces; excrement

Galician

Etymology 1

13th century (Cantigas de Santa Maria). From Old Galician and Old Portuguese tea, from Latin t?la. Cognate with Portuguese teia and Spanish tela.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tea?/

Noun

tea f (plural teas)

1. (uncountable) cloth
2. (countable) a piece of cloth
   • 1326, Antonio López Ferreiro (ed.), Galicia Histórica. Colección diplomática. Santiago: Tipografía Galaica, page 300:

     It. mando que todollos lenços delgados et teas de rens que os tome Garcia perez. et que faça delles fazer uestimentas para o altar de Sta Maria.

     Item, I command that every fine linen and the clothes of Reims to be taken by Garcia Perez, who should make them into clothes for the altar of Saint Mary

3. spiderweb

   Synonym: arañeira

4. canvas

   Synonym: lenzo

5. film (skin)

   Synonym: película

Derived terms

• tear

Etymology 2

13th century (Cantigas de Santa Maria). From Latin taeda, from Ancient Greek ???? (dáos, “torch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tea?/

Noun

tea f (plural teas)

1. torch

   Synonyms: facha, fachuzo

References

• “tea” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “tea” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “tea” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “tea” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “tea” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Hungarian

Etymology

From Dutch thee, from Min Nan ? (tê, “tea”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?t??], [?t?j?]
• Hyphenation: tea
• Rhymes: -?, -j?

Noun

tea (plural teák)

1. tea

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• tea in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Maori

Adjective

tea

1. white

Derived terms

• Aotearoa

Rapa Nui

Noun

tea

1. dawn

Derived terms

• tea tea

Sedang

Noun

tea

1. water
2. body of water: river, lake, etc
3. liquid
4. wine

References

• Kenneth D. Smith, Sedang Dictionary (2012), page 375

Spanish

Alternative forms

• teda (rare)

Etymology

From Latin taeda.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tea/, [?t?e.a]

Noun

tea f (plural teas)

1. torch (a stick with a flame on one end, used chiefly as a light source)

   Synonym: antorcha
2. (colloquial) intoxication, drunkenness

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:borrachera

Further reading

• “tea” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Alternative forms

• peeps, peops (slang)
• peple (obsolete)
• pipple (pronunciation spelling)
• ppl, ppl.

Etymology

From Middle English puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”) of unknown origin. Gradually ousted native English lede and, partially, folk.

Originally a singular noun (e.g. The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness –2 Samuel 17:29, King James Version, spelling modernized), the plural aspect of people is probably due to influence from Middle English lede, leed, a plural since Old English times (compare Old English l?ode (“people, men, persons”), plural of Old English l?od (“man, person”)). See also lede, leod.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pi?p?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?pip?l/, /?pipl?/, [?p?ip??]
• Rhymes: -i?p?l
• Hyphenation: peo?ple
• Homophone: papal (some dialects)

Noun

people (countable and uncountable, plural peoples)

1. Used as plural of person; a body of human beings considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.

   Synonyms: (slang) peeps, lede, leod

   • c. 1607, plaque recording the Bristol Channel floods:

     XXII people was in this parrish drownd.
2. (countable) Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family, etc.

   Synonyms: collective, community, congregation, folk

   • 1966, Dick Tuck, Concession Speech:

     The people have spoken, the bastards.

3. A group of persons regarded as being employees, followers, companions or subjects of a ruler.

   Synonyms: fans, groupies, supporters

   • 1952, Old Testament, Revised Standard Version, Thomas Nelson & Sons, Isaiah 1:3:

     The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand.

4. One's colleagues or employees.
5. A person's ancestors, relatives or family.

   Synonyms: kin, kith, folks

6. The mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.

   Synonyms: populace, commoners, citizenry

people

1. plural of person.

Usage notes

• When used to mean "persons" (meaning 1 above), "people" today takes a plural verb. However, in the past it could take a singular verb.
• Nowadays, "persons" as the plural of "person" is considered highly formal. All major style guides recommend people rather than persons. For example, the Associated Press and the New York Times recommend "people" except in quotations and set phrases. Under the traditional distinction, which Garner says is pedantic, persons describes a finite, known number of individuals, rather than the collective term people. "Persons" is correct in technical and legal contexts.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Jamaican Creole: piipl
• Pijin: pipol

Translations

See also

• sheeple

Verb

people (third-person singular simple present peoples, present participle peopling, simple past and past participle peopled)

1. (transitive) To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people; to populate.
   • 1674, John Dryden, The State of Innocence and the Fall of Man, Act II, Scene I:

     He would not be alone, who all things can; / But peopled Heav'n with Angels, Earth with Man.

2. (intransitive) To become populous or populated.
3. (transitive) To inhabit; to occupy; to populate.
   • a. 1645, John Milton, Il Penseroso, lines 7–8:

     […] / As thick and numberless / As the gay motes that people the Sun Beams, / […]

4. (rare, informal) To interact with people; to socialize.
   • 2018, Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Darkest Star, Tor Teen (?ISBN), page 149:

     I don't people well.” “Not peopling well is a crap excuse,” I retorted, and started to step around him, but a sudden thought occurred to me.

   • 2019, Casey Diam, Love, [8]:

     My head tilted as Calvin said, "Don't worry about him. He just doesn't people well.

     The fuck? I people. Sometimes. With people I know.

   • 2020, Teri Anne Stanley, Lucky Chance Cowboy, Sourcebooks, Inc. (?ISBN)

     I don't people well.” He laughed at that. “You do okay,” he assured her.

Usage notes

• The informal interaction sense is chiefly used in the negative.

Derived terms

• peopler

Translations

References

• people in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Further reading

• People on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• People in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Peploe

French

Alternative forms

• pipole

Etymology

Since 2000, named after People, an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news, human-interest stories, and gossip.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi.p?l/

Noun

people m or f (plural people)

1. (countable) A celebrity, celebrities, famous person(s).
   • 2004, Emmanuel Davidenkoff and Didier Hassoux, Luc Ferry: une comédie du pouvoir, 2002–2004 (Luc Ferry: A Comedy of Power, 2002–2004), Hachette, ?ISBN,

     Le novice en politique contre le mammouth « Éducation nationale ». Ça mérite la sympathie. Et puis c’est un people. Les gens aiment et détestent à la fois. Ils sont fascinés. Le bonheur sur papier glacé. Les vacances entre Saint-Trop’, la Martinique et Deauville.

     The political novice against the mammoth "National Education". That merited sympathy. Then, too, he was a celebrity. People loved and hated at the same time. They were fascinated. Happiness on ice paper. Vacations between Saint-Tropez, Martinique, and Deauville.

   • 2008, Martine Delvaux, "L’égoïsme romantique de Frédéric Beigbeder" ("Frédéric Beigbeder's L’égoïsme romantique (Romantic Egotism)"), in Alain-Philippe Durand (editor), Frédéric Beigbeder et ses doubles (Frédéric Beigbeder and His Doubles), Rodopi, ?ISBN, page 95:

     Oscar Dufresne est un people anti-people, un macho impuissant, un intellectuel qui ne dit rien d’intelligent, un faux sadique et un faux masochiste, un anti-autobiographe.

     Oscar Dufresne is a celebrity who is anti-celebrity, a powerless macho man, an intellectual who says nothing intelligent, a fake sadist and a fake masochist, an anti-autobiographer.

2. (uncountable, m) showbusiness, popular media that feature stories on celebrities and famous people (as represented by magazines such as People, (UK) Hello!, (France) Paris Match)

Usage notes

• The French noun people is frequently italicized as a loanword, as in the quotations above.

Synonyms

• (a celebrity): célébrité, personne connue, personnalité, personnage public

Derived terms

• pipolisation

Middle English

Noun

people

1. Alternative form of peple