A mug is a type of cup typically used for drinking hot beverages, such as coffee, hot chocolate, soup, or tea. Mugs usually have handles[1] and hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cup. Usually a mug holds approximately 12 US fluid ounces (350 ml) of liquid double a tea cup.[citation needed] A mug is a less formal style of drink container and is not usually used in formal place settings, where a teacup or coffee cup is preferred. Shaving mugs are used to assist in wet shaving.

Our predecessors probably probably drank out of mugs tediously carved from bone or wood. The oldest mugs discovered by archeologists date back to the Neolithic Stone Age, some 10,000 years B.C. These drinking vessels, found in China and Japan, were durable yet lacked handles.

Eventually, bone and wood gave way to pottery and handles came about. Until the invention of the pottery wheel, clay mugs were made and decorated by hand. As with most ancient pottery, these clay cups had thick walls that made them cumbersome and difficult to drink out of.