Meanings
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSweetened tea with milk and tapioca pearls, often including fruit juice, syrup and other ingredients.
Origin
- Cantonese波霸“busty woman; tapioca pearl(s)”
- Englishbubble tea
A 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 supposed resemblance of the tapioca pearls to bubbles.
More words from Cantonese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian бъбъл чай, бъбъл тий
- бъбъл чай (băbăl čaj)milk tea with tapioca balls
- бъбъл тий (băbăl tij)milk tea with tapioca balls
Chinese Cantonese 珍珠奶茶
- 珍珠奶茶 (zan¹ zyu¹ naai⁵ ca⁴)milk tea with tapioca balls
Chinese Mandarin 珍珠奶茶, 珍奶
- 珍珠奶茶 (zhēnzhū nǎichá)milk tea with tapioca balls
- 珍奶 (zhēnnǎi)milk tea with tapioca balls
Finnish kuplatee
- kuplateemilk tea with tapioca balls
French thé aux perles, thé aux bulles
- thé aux perlesmilk tea with tapioca balls
- thé aux bullesmilk tea with tapioca balls
German Perlentee
- Perlenteemilk tea with tapioca balls
Hungarian buboréktea, gyöngyös tea
- buborékteamilk tea with tapioca balls
- gyöngyös teamilk tea with tapioca balls
- gyöngytejteamilk tea with tapioca balls
- buboréktejteamilk tea with tapioca balls
- bobadzsúszmilk tea with tapioca balls
- bobateamilk tea with tapioca balls
- bobamilk tea with tapioca balls
Italian tè alle bolle, tè alle perle
- tè alle bollemilk tea with tapioca balls
- tè alle perlemilk tea with tapioca balls
Japanese タピオカティー, パールミルクティー
- タピオカティー (tapiokatī)milk tea with tapioca balls
- パールミルクティー (pārumirukutī)milk tea with tapioca balls
Korean 버블티
- 버블티 (beobeulti)milk tea with tapioca balls
Polish bubble tea
- bubble teamilk tea with tapioca balls
Portuguese chá de bolhas, chá perolado
- chá de bolhasmilk tea with tapioca balls
- chá peroladomilk tea with tapioca balls
Russian чай с ша́риками, пе́нистый чай
- чай с ша́риками (čaj s šárikami)milk tea with tapioca balls
- пе́нистый чай (pénistyj čaj)milk tea with tapioca balls
- жемчу́жный чай (žemčúžnyj čaj)milk tea with tapioca balls
Spanish té de burbujas, té de perlas
- té de burbujasmilk tea with tapioca balls
- té de perlasmilk tea with tapioca balls
- té de bobasmilk tea with tapioca balls
- té bobamilk tea with tapioca balls
- cha perladomilk tea with tapioca balls
- cha aperladomilk tea with tapioca balls
- cha perlinomilk tea with tapioca balls
- cha con bolitasmilk tea with tapioca balls
Swedish bubbelte
- bubbeltemilk tea with tapioca balls
Thai ชาไข่มุก, ชานมไข่มุก
- ชาไข่มุก (chaa-kài-múk)milk tea with tapioca balls
- ชานมไข่มุก (chaa-nom-kài-múk)milk tea with tapioca balls
Turkish inci çayı
- inci çayımilk tea with tapioca balls
Vietnamese trà trân châu, trà sữa trân châu
- trà trân châumilk tea with tapioca balls
- trà sữa trân châumilk tea with tapioca balls
Welsh te swigod
- te swigodmilk tea with tapioca balls
Cite this entry
APA
bubble tea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubble%20tea
MLA
“bubble tea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubble%20tea. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bubble tea,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubble%20tea.
Source: bubble tea on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.