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Glite Dictionary
tea leaf

tea leaf

1.0
A dried leaf from the tea plant used to make a hot drink
  • noun
translation icon : hoja de té
  • After steeping the tea leaves for a few minutes, the water turned a beautiful amber color.

Things are written on tea leaves, Yes.

Examples

  • So it's very particular sorts of tea leaves that are picked and our tea leaves normally not grown in the shade.

  • I enjoy brewing a cup of tea using high-quality tea leaves from Darjeeling.

  • Get some coffee beans and tea leaves in town for me?

    Angel Blade (2002)

  • Take a heaping tablespoon of peppermint tea leaf or one tea bag of peppermint tea and steep it in boiling water, then add a little sweetener.

    Blog text (15)

  • You can find dried tea leaves at any local grocery store, ready for making your favorite beverage.

Synonyms

tea
vstea leaf
113 1.0

The dried leaves used to make a hot drink

is a single dried plant piece rather than the bulk used for brewing

How Whole

tea leaf
1.0
brewer's grain
  • Specialized
6.3

Surface Forms

tea leaf singular
tea leaves plural

Morphology

tea + leaf

The meaning 'a dried leaf of the tea plant used to make tea' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'tea' (the plant/drink) with 'leaf' (a plant organ). This simple noun-noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows a referential pattern that a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand.

Etymology

Tea leaf comes from the simple image of a tea plant's leaf that people pick and dry to make a drink. These dried leaves are what you put in hot water to 'make tea', so the name tea leaf means 'a dried leaf of the tea plant'.