cup of tea
/ˈkʌp əv ˈtiː/
"cup-of-tea" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cup of tea” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cup, tea. A cup or mug with tea in it.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cup-of-tea · cup of tea · English
cup of tea · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cup of tea |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkʌp əv ˈtiː/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cup of tea” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cup of tea is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkʌp əv ˈtiː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for cup of tea, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is cup of tea, spelled C-U-P- -O-F- -T-E-A.
Definition
- 1Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cup, tea. A cup or mug with tea in it.
- 2An activity or domain in which someone is interested or skilled in; one's personal preference.
- 3three
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cup of tea appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Would you be a dear and get me a cup of tea, please?
In the heady days of 1970, the national average wage was about £6,200 in today's money, but a cup of BR tea was within everyone's reach at 9d (2020 value: 55p) until it suddenly went up to 11p (2020: 70p). (The 2020 price would relate to 11d, not 11p; decimalisation took place in 1971.)
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.