brick-tea

noun

Tea leaves formed into the shape of a brick, used to make beverages like tea, eaten as food or, as in the past, used as a form of currency.

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Meanings

nounbrick-tea (uncountable)
  1. uncountableTea leaves formed into the shape of a brick, used to make beverages like tea, eaten as food or, as in the past, used as a form of currency.

    "Some of them were men from Ladakh," said Lalun, when the last had gone. "They brought me brick-tea such as the Russians sell, and a tea-urn from Peshawar."

    1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, page 438

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 磚茶 /砖茶
  • 磚茶 /砖茶 (zhuānchá)tea leaves
Finnish tiilitee
  • tiiliteetea leaves
Russian пли́точный чай
  • пли́точный чай (plítočnyj čaj)tea leaves
Cite this entry
APA

brick-tea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brick-tea

MLA

“brick-tea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brick-tea. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brick-tea,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brick-tea.

Source: brick-tea on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.