chai¹

[she]

noun, plural chais

[she] /ʃɛ/. French.

a shed or other aboveground building where a winemaker stores wine in casks.

chai²

[chahy]

noun

a drink of tea made with cardamom and various other spices, milk, and a sweetener.

Origin of chai²

1970-75; < Turkish çay and Russian, Persian, Hindi, Urdu chay “tea,” ultimately from Chinese chá tea

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for chai

Contemporary Examples

We laughed about getting lost in New York City and had chai.
Mosul's Civilization and Its Discontents
Michael Carson
June 14, 2014
I wear my tzitzit and my chai necklace proudly in photographs.
Prop 8’s Aftermath: With Gay Rights, Religion Still Lags
Sir Ari Gold
February 8, 2012
Chai Trivedi Pranna, New York I cooked for Tyra Banks last week on the fly.
Chef Horror Stories
The Daily Beast
October 13, 2009
They bring Xerox samosas wrapped in paper; they offer him chai.
An Excerpt from Between the Assassinations
Aravind Adiga
June 10, 2009
This time when he was brought to the station in handcuffs there were no courtesies, no cups of chai.
An Excerpt from Between the Assassinations
Aravind Adiga
June 10, 2009

Historical Examples

On the Chai Pass the two aneroids I had on me registered an altitude of 11,190 feet.
In the Forbidden Land
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
An official, named Chai, was appointed to a post at Jao-chou, and on his way thither crossed the Po-yang lake.
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio vol. II (of 2)
Songling Pu
But "Can chai la fueilla" is very cleverly made with five, six, and four and seven.
Instigations
Ezra Pound
My juwa had almost scratched an eye out of the Hindity mushi, and my chai had sent the Hindity childer scampering over the green.
Wild Wales
George Borrow
"Karim" was still sounding, when I heard a different strain, "Chai chai kirna cha-ee," which was sung in a sonorous nasal voice.
Harper's Young People, July 6, 1880
Various

British Dictionary definitions for chai

chai

noun

tea, esp as made in India with added spices

Word Origin

C20: Indian

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for chai

n.

"tea," 1919, from the Russian or Arabic word for "tea" (see tea, and cf. cha). Now used especially of spiced teas.

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Examples from the Web for chai

Contemporary Examples

We laughed about getting lost in New York City and had chai.

I wear my tzitzit and my chai necklace proudly in photographs.

Chai Trivedi Pranna, New York I cooked for Tyra Banks last week on the fly.

They bring Xerox samosas wrapped in paper; they offer him chai.

This time when he was brought to the station in handcuffs there were no courtesies, no cups of chai.

Historical Examples

On the Chai Pass the two aneroids I had on me registered an altitude of 11,190 feet.

An official, named Chai, was appointed to a post at Jao-chou, and on his way thither crossed the Po-yang lake.

But "Can chai la fueilla" is very cleverly made with five, six, and four and seven.

My juwa had almost scratched an eye out of the Hindity mushi, and my chai had sent the Hindity childer scampering over the green.