teacup

teacup — noun

1. a small cup made of ceramic or porcelain, fitted with a curved handle on one sid

1.nounA2
Definition

a small cup made of ceramic or porcelain, fitted with a curved handle on one side and often paired with a matching saucer, used for drinking tea or other hot beverages

Example

Grandma poured the steaming tea from the pot into each teacup on the table.

collocation: pour tea into a teacup

Noor carefully lifted the delicate porcelain teacup by its tiny handle.

collocation: delicate porcelain teacup

Common collocations
  • porcelain teacup
  • china teacup
  • delicate teacup
  • teacup and saucer
  • set of teacups
  • handle of a teacup
  • break a teacup
  • sip from a teacup
  • pour into a teacup
  • matching teacups
Synonyms
  • cup

    broader term; a teacup is a specific type of cup shaped and sized for tea drinking

  • mug

    larger, thicker-walled vessel without a saucer, used mainly for coffee or hot chocolate; a mug holds more liquid than a teacup

  • demitasse

    a very small cup for espresso, roughly half the size of a teacup

Usage Note

Countable noun. Often described by its material (porcelain, china, ceramic, bone china) or pattern (floral, gold-rimmed, hand-painted). Common in the paired phrase 'teacup and saucer'.

Common Mistakes

I bought a tea cup from the store.
I bought a teacup from the store.
'teacup' is written as one closed compound word, not two separate words.
She held the teacup of the handle.
She held the teacup by the handle.
Use 'by the handle' to describe how someone grips a teacup, not 'of the handle'.

2. the volume that an ordinary teacup can contain, used in older or informal recipe

2.nounB1
Definition

the volume that an ordinary teacup can contain, used in older or informal recipes as an approximate measurement for both liquids and dry ingredients

Example

The traditional recipe calls for one teacup of sugar and half a teacup of milk.

pattern: a teacup of [ingredient]; half a teacup

Adaeze measured out a teacup of rice and rinsed it before cooking.

Common collocations
  • a teacup of rice
  • a teacup of sugar
  • half a teacup of milk
  • about a teacup of water
  • roughly a teacup of flour
Synonyms
  • cup

    standardised measurement (250 ml in most modern recipes); more precise than 'teacup'

  • teacupful

    the same meaning as sense 2, but slightly more explicit as a measurement unit

Grammar Patterns

a teacup of [ingredient]

Usage Note

Typically used in the pattern 'a teacup of [substance]'. More common in older family recipes than in modern standardised cookbooks, where 'cup' (250 ml) is the standard unit. The actual volume varies because teacups differ in size.

Common Mistakes

Add one teacup flour to the bowl.
Add one teacup of flour to the bowl.
When used as a measurement, 'teacup' requires the preposition 'of' before the ingredient.
A teacup is exactly 250 millilitres.
A teacup roughly holds about 200 to 250 millilitres.
A teacup measurement is not standardised; its volume depends on the size of the cup.
Idioms

a storm in a teacup

idiom

a situation in which people become very angry or upset about something that is actually unimportant

Everyone in the office argued about who should refill the coffee machine, but it was a storm in a teacup.

The neighbours' argument over the fence turned out to be a storm in a teacup.

Word family

  • teacupful
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A 'teacup' is a small, handle-bearing vessel designed for drinking tea, typically made of delicate porcelain or bone china and served with a matching saucer. A 'cup' is the general term for any drinking vessel of this shape; all teacups are cups, but not all cups are teacups. A 'mug' is considerably larger and thicker, often made of ceramic or glass, lacks a saucer, and is intended for coffee, hot chocolate, or larger servings of tea. A 'demitasse' is a very small cup (roughly half the volume of a teacup) used exclusively for espresso. If you ask for 'a cup of tea' in a café, you will probably receive a mug; if you ask for 'tea in a teacup', you will get a smaller, more refined serving with a saucer.

cup ↗mug ↗demitasse

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • a set of teacups
  • teacup and saucer
  • hand-painted teacup
  • matching teacup

Etymology

Chinese (Min Nan)EnglishOld English

Formed by combining the nouns 'tea' (from Chinese Min Nan Chinese 'tê') and 'cup' (from Old English 'cuppe', meaning a small drinking vessel). The earliest recorded use dates back to the early 17th century, around the time tea drinking became popular in England. The compound 'teacup' was originally sometimes written as two separate words ('tea cup') before solidifying into a single closed compound by the 18th century.