![[P]](http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/premium_mh.gif){kind=small}
Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday January 15, 2008
mate, noun:
maté
Each country in Latin America tends to have its own distinct special foods and drinks, but drinking mate is a tradition that extends across Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil. Mate is a green-tea-like infusion made by steeping the dried leaves from yerba mate, a tree which belongs to the holly family, in hot water. It has a high caffeine content, and is used as a stimulant and social drink in much the same way as coffee. Traditionally it is served in a small, hollowed out gourd, also called a mate, and drunk through a cylindrical metal tube called a bombilla. The word mate comes from the Quechua language. The Argentinians use the exclamation ¡Tomá mate! - Well, what d’you know? - when they’re really surprised by something.
Content By
© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.