Abstract: The standard (GB/T 14487 terms of tea sensory tests) established by exhaustive method is the abundant and representative sensory term set in food science. Tea sensory terminology was standardized and classified according to the formation rules of sensory terms. It represents tea sensory attributes objectively with distinctive Chinese traditional language features. The concept of ‘primitive morpheme’ of tea sensory terminology was put forward with a linguistics perspective. In GB/T 14487, four types of ‘primitive morpheme’ are included, which are nouns, adverbs, adjectives and verbs. Terms constituted by primitive morpheme are called monosyllabic term, and complex terms which can be divided into 8 types, which are the permutations by primitive morphemes. There are still some problems to be improved in sensory terms of tea.

Key words: tea sensory terminology, formation, development, primitive morpheme, monosyllabic term