TSUMUGU · TOCFL 1 · 字
茶
茶 ＝ 艹 ＋ 余
ㄔㄚˊ · chá
noun — tea
字源 FORM — what the parts do
艹義a plant
余聲the sound seat, through 荼 túone stroke shorter in 茶 than in 荼
≠yú → tú (in 荼) → chá — the borrowed graph's long road
A plant (艹) over 余. Tea first wrote itself 荼 — the bitter-herb graph; Tang writers dropped one stroke to give the drink its own character, and the sound settled at chá. The graph is younger than the drinking.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
滾水沖下去，葉子（艹）在碗裡慢慢張開。
Boiling water in — the leaves (艹) open slowly in the bowl.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)茶— tea常用
→茶杯、茶壺— tea's tools — cup, pot
→下午茶— the afternoon sit-down
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
荼túthe mother graph — one stroke more, the bitter herb喝hēthe verb it follows — 喝茶