Porcelain Definition

pôrsə-lĭn, pôrslĭn
noun
A hard, white, nonporous, translucent variety of ceramic ware, made of kaolin, feldspar, and quartz or flint.
Webster's New World
An object made of this substance.
American Heritage
Porcelain dishes or ornaments, collectively.
Webster's New World
(usually countable) Anything manufactured from this material..
Wiktionary
adjective
Made of porcelain.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Porcelain

Noun

Singular:
porcelain
Plural:
porcelains

Origin of Porcelain

  • French porcelaine cowry shell, porcelain from Old French from Old Italian porcellana from feminine of porcellano of a young sow (from the shell's resemblance to a pig's back) from porcella young sow diminutive of porca sow from Latin feminine of porcus pig porko- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle French porcelaine (“cowrie, chinaware"), from Old Italian porcellana (“cowrie, chinaware"), from porcella (“the mussel and cockle shells which painters put their pigments") from porco (“pig") with -ella (“-y").

    From Wiktionary

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