teaspoon
Meaning
a small spoon used typically for adding sugar to and stirring hot drinks or for eating some soft foods.
a unit of measure used in cooking, equal to about 5 milliliters.
Structure
Usage
she stirred her coffee with a silver teaspoon.
add one teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cake batter.
the recipe calls for two teaspoons of salt.
Etymology
The word 'teaspoon' is a transparent English compound formed in the 17th century. It directly combines 'tea', the name of the beverage introduced to Europe from China, with 'spoon', a common eating utensil. The term was created to designate a smaller spoon specifically suited for the new social ritual of tea drinking, which required stirring sugar into the hot beverage. Over time, its standardized size led to its secondary meaning as a unit of culinary measurement.
Analysis
tea (noun, from chinese 茶 via dutch 'thee' and malay 'teh', denoting the beverage); spoon (noun, from old english 'spōn', meaning a chip of wood or a utensil for eating/lifting food).