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While having fun looking up random words in my dictionary software, I found
out that the phrase "めちゃめちゃ", which is often used in colloquial sentences like
"めちゃめちゃかわいい" has two kanji variants:

> 滅茶滅茶  
>  目茶目茶

For the first variant, 滅茶滅茶, I can imagine the significance of 滅, which
implies "destruction", but why with "tea"? The second variant is even absurd
(or can I use "mecha-mecha" as a pun here :P), because it's from "eye" and
"tea".

Does the kanji character "茶" has any significance in the phrase, or are they
just ateji?
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2011-06-06T07:19:23.063
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2012-03-15T05:33:54.497
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question
kanji etymology set-phrases ateji
Significance of the kanji 茶 in the set phrase 滅茶滅茶{めちゃめちゃ} / 目茶目茶{めちゃめちゃ}
I don't think that the kanji have any specific meaning and are just used for
their sounds, ergo Ateji.
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2011-06-06T07:21:29.997
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answer
That's just ateji「当て字」, but they used like that because

  * 滅茶滅茶 related with 滅茶苦茶/無茶苦茶 (muchakucha) and base word is 無茶, 
  * There is some saying that 無茶 supposed to mean お客さんにお茶を出さない。 (No o-cha?)  
(Don't provide tea to customer, which is unreasonable just like 無茶苦茶. But
meaning from 当て字 are not suppose to be used, so above is wrong approach.

  * There is also another saying that 無茶 comes from Buddhist word 無作 (musa/musaku), which has meaning むさぼる (greedy, covet) and 苦茶 is just to emphasize the former.

ref: <http://gogen-allguide.com/mu/muchakucha.html>
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2011-06-06T07:34:48.123
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2011-06-06T13:48:20.237
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answer