thee (Dutch)

Where does "thee" come from?

The Dutch noun 'thee', meaning 'tea', was borrowed from the Hokkien word 'tê'[1]. The spelling with the letter h is a faux-Greek addition, whereas the more basal spelling 'tee' was previously common during the early modern period before becoming obsolete[1].

Open questions

• The intermediate historical steps and exact transmission route from Hokkien into Dutch are not detailed in the available source data. [1]

Full etymology tree

• thee (Dutch), 'tea'
  • borrowed 茶 (tê) (Hokkien)

Cognates and doublets

• τσάι (Greek)

Descendants and derived words

• tea (English)
• tea (English)
• thé (French)
• tee (Afrikaans)
• te (Danish)
• te (Danish)
• the (Danish)
• ijsthee (Dutch)
• kruidenthee (Dutch)
• muntthee (Dutch)
• rookthee (Dutch)
• theeglas (Dutch)

Sources

1. thee (Dutch) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris