oolong

/ˈuː.lʊŋ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.38 in modern English

Syllables: oo-long
IPA: /ˈuː.lʊŋ/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A partially fermented tea, often roasted, which combines the characteristics of green tea and black tea.

Countable; Uncountable

name

A locality in the Upper Lachlan council area, south eastern New South Wales, Australia.

Example Sentences

"Near-synonym: black dragon"
"Flavour and aroma of semi-fermented teas is dictated by the extent of fermentation and, for this reason, oolong has a considerably stronger flavour than pouchong, which undergoes a significantly shorter fermentation."

Etymology

1850s. From either Mandarin 烏龍 /乌龙 (wūlóng) due to hypercorrection, or directly from Hokkien 烏龍 /乌龙 (o͘-liông), from 烏 /乌 (o͘, “black”) + 龍 /龙 (liông, “dragon”). See also pouchong from Hokkien 包種茶 /包种茶 (pau-chióng-tê, literally “tea of the wrapped kind”).

Word Breakdown

Root: 烏龍

Usage

Inflected Forms

oolongs (plural)

Phrases

oolong tea

Frequently Paired Words

pouchong souchong oolong tea

Synonyms

black dragon

Rhymes With

dulong

Questions

How do you pronounce oolong?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈuː.lʊŋ/.

What does oolong mean?

A partially fermented tea, often roasted, which combines the characteristics of green tea and black tea.

Where does oolong come from?

How to pronounce oolong

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “oolong”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈuː.lʊŋ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

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