A word from South Asian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali) meaning tea, especially the traditional spiced or plain hot beverage.
From Sanskrit चाय (chāya) and Hindi चाय (chāy), derived from Chinese 茶 (chá); spread across Asia through trade routes.
The word 'tea' traveled from China to Europe via Portuguese merchants, but South Asians held onto their own pronunciation—now chai is more famous than 'tea' in Western coffee shops.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.