bubble tea

English

Bubble tea

Etymology

Phono-semantic match for boba tea (see that entry for more), ultimately from Cantonese 波霸 (bo1 baa3, “busty woman; tapioca pearl(s)”). The match is from the tapioca pearls' supposed resemblance to bubbles.

Noun

bubble tea (countable and uncountable, plural bubble teas)

1. Sweetened tea with milk and tapioca pearls, often including fruit juice, syrup and other ingredients.

Synonyms

• boba, boba tea, pearl tea, pearl cooler; see also Thesaurus:tea

Translations

milk tea with tapioca balls

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: ပုလဲနို့လက်ဖက်ရည် (pu.lai:nui.lakhpak-rany)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 珍珠奶茶 (zan¹ zyu¹ naai⁵ ca⁴)

  Mandarin: 珍珠奶茶 (zh) (zhēnzhū nǎichá), 珍奶 (zh) (zhēnnǎi)

• Finnish: kuplatee
• French: thé aux perles m, thé aux bulles m
• German: Perlentee m
• Hungarian: buboréktea, gyöngyös tea, gyöngytejtea, buboréktejtea, bobadzsúsz, bobatea, boba
• Italian: tè alle bolle m, tè alle perle m
• Japanese: タピオカティー (ja) (tapiokatī), パールミルクティー (pārumirukutī)
• Khmer: តែគុជ (taekuc), តែគជ់ (tae kŭəc)
• Korean: 버블티 (ko) (beobeulti)
• Portuguese: chá de bolhas m, chá perolado m
• Russian: чай с ша́риками m (čaj s šárikami), пе́нистый чай m (pénistyj čaj), жемчу́жный чай m (žemčúžnyj čaj)
• Spanish: té de burbujas (es) m, té de perlas (es) m, té de boba m, té boba m
• Thai: ชาไข่มุก (th) (chaa-kài-múk), ชานมไข่มุก (th) (chaa-nom-kài-múk)
• Turkish: inci çayı
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: trà trân châu, trà sữa trân châu
• Welsh: te swigod m