Etymology

oolong

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Today it means: A partially fermented tea, often roasted, which combines the characteristics of green tea and black tea. Full definition →

Mandarin 烏龍 /乌龙 ← Hokkien 烏龍 /乌龙
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The story

  1. Hokkien · borrowed from烏龍 /乌龙
  2. Mandarin · borrowed from烏龍 /乌龙
  3. English todayoolong

1850s. From either Mandarin 烏龍 /乌龙 (wūlóng) due to hypercorrection, or directly from Hokkien 烏龍 /乌龙 (o͘-liông), from 烏 /乌 (o͘, “black”) + 龍 /龙 (liông, “dragon”). See also pouchong from Hokkien 包種茶 /包种茶 (pau-chióng-tê, literally “tea of the wrapped kind”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.