Plural of chai, a type of spiced tea popular in South Asia, or the plural of chai as in chaise lounges (archaic).
From Hindi 'chai' and Urdu 'چائے' (chāy), which came from Chinese 'chá' through Persian and Gujarati traders. The word traveled along trade routes and entered English in the 17th century.
The word 'chai' shows the incredible journey of language along trade routes—the same word exists in dozens of languages because merchants literally carried it across deserts and oceans, and the beverage became so popular that the word stuck.
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