teacup

teacup — noun

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

1.名詞A2
釋義

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

例句

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

同義詞
  • 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

用法筆記

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'.

常見錯誤

❌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.名詞B1
釋義

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

例句

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.

同義詞
  • 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

文法句型

a teacup of [ingredient]

用法筆記

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.

常見錯誤

❌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.