down

Literal meaning

white + fine hair

Definition#

The fine white hairs (trichomes) on young buds and on the underside of tender leaves. Abundant, intact down is a quality mark in white tea; GB/T 22291-2017 describes top-grade Baihao Yinzhen as plump needles with thick down, and the category name itself is linked to the visible down.

Translation and usage#

Language	Use	Alternatives & cautions
English	down fine white hairs on buds and young leaves translation	Also acceptable white down pekoe down bai hao pekoe (as the historic export and grading word) Avoid pekoe (alone) in Western grading pekoe names a leaf position or grade; Babelcarp also lists that sense, so the bare word is ambiguous
Deutsch	Flaum feine weiße Härchen an Knospen und jungen Blättern translation	Also acceptable Samtflaum Behaarung Avoid Pekoe Blattgrad-Bezeichnung, nicht der Flaum
Русский	ворс белый пушок на почках и молодых листьях translation	Also acceptable пушок белый ворс Avoid байховый Russian байховый derives from 白毫 but means loose-leaf (unpressed) tea, not downy
简体字繁體字	白毫
日本語	白毫

Common confusions#

Babelcarp lists three senses for 白毫: the down itself, a heavily oxidised Taiwan oolong, and Pekoe as a leaf position; context decides.
English "pekoe" is usually derived from the Amoy (Hokkien) reading pe̍h-ho of 白毫, as given in Robert Morrison's 1819 dictionary; an alternative derivation is 白花 "white flower". In Western grading pekoe became a leaf-size grade (OP, FOP), detached from any down.
Russian байховый (loose-leaf tea) is popularly derived from 白毫 (ru.wiktionary), but Vasmer derives it from 白花; either way it means loose tea, not downy tea, and is easily misread as a white-tea term.
白毫 names fine pale hairs on tea leaves; 白毫烏龍 is also a name for Oriental Beauty oolong, not a white-tea category.