Cup

A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about 100–250 millilitres (3–8 US fl oz).

[1][2] Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal,[3] wood, stone, polystyrene, plastic, lacquerware, or other materials.

Normally, a cup is brought in contact with the mouth for drinking, distinguishing it from other tableware and drinkware forms such as jugs.

[4][5] The history of cups goes back well into prehistory, initially mostly as handle-less beakers or bowls, and they have been found in most cultures across the world in a variety of shapes and materials.

Wierzbicka suggests that this situation is due to a slightly different functionality: the traditional cups are designed for drinking while sitting down at the table, while the mug is supposed to be used anywhere.

This, in her opinion, explains all the specific features:[18] Cups have been used since the Stone Age and have been found at archeological sites throughout the world.

Very simple single-use kulhar cups in unglazed terracotta, and sometimes unfired clay, are still used in South Asia, now mainly at tea stalls, and are very similar to those found at sites of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization.

These are found as grave goods in elite burials from around the Warring States Period (c. 475 to 221 BC), in Chinese lacquerware (wood coated with resin from a tree) with two flanges at the sides of an ovoid cup.

[28] A form with a flange on only one side appears in ancient Persian silver, and then later in Chinese porcelain, apparently gradually developing into a shape for brush-washers on the calligrapher's desk.

[30] The tall, decorated and slightly waisted qiru or keru of Andean civilizations first appears in the Early Intermediate Period (100–600 AD).

Maya elites drank from elaborately painted pottery beakers such as the Fenton Vase and Princeton Maya Vase with God L.[31] In what is now the south-eastern US, traces of Yaupon tea containing caffeine have been found in pottery cups of an unusual shape: straight-sided, with a single thick spike as a handle near the top, opposite a slight pouring lip.

[32] In the Early Middle Ages glass remained in production in northern Europe, especially Germany, probably as a luxury material.

The name for the very wide ancient Greek wine-cup kylix ended up via Latin as chalice, typically a handle-less goblet in metal, used in the Catholic mass, but also a secular shape.

Timothy Schroder places this change in England around the end of the 17th century, though others put it nearer the beginning[34] The OED records the first dated use in English of "glass" as a term for a vessel, rather than just the material, in 1393-4.

[8] By the early 18th century, the European taste for handles on cups, strongly evident from antiquity, reasserted itself and a single vertical handle was added to a slightly more upright Chinese-style bowl to create both the very similar forms of the Western teacup and coffee cup, as well as a saucer.

European porcelain manufacturers encouraged the development of different sizes of cup, and shapes of pot, for tea and coffee services.

In the Bible, Joseph interpreted a dream for Pharaoh's cup-bearer,[37] and a silver divining cup played a key role in his reconciliation with his brothers.

The Royal Gold Cup is an exceptionally rare survival, made before 1391 for John, Duke of Berry, a French prince, who gave it to his uncle, Charles VI of France.

Libations were common at the start of informal social occasions involving drinking, where the normal cups were presumably often used.

The most traditional Chinese ritual bronze vessel for libations, the jue, has a large pouring lip, and may be regarded as a type of jug rather than a cup.

Special cups for infants seem to date back to the Neolithic age, some shaped like animals, apparently just to engage the child.

Owing to the common usage of cup-shaped trophies as prizes for the winners, a large number of national and international competitions are called "cups".

In Tarot divination, the suit of cups is associated with the element of water and is regarded as symbolizing emotion, intuition, and the soul.

Metal and glass cups can use a double wall construction with a vacuum-sealed space in-between to reduce the loss of heat and keep outside surfaces cooler.