Etymology
From Middle French porcelaine (cowrie, wampum, china, chinaware), from Old Italian porcellana (cowrie, china, chinaware), from porcella (mussel or cockle shell used to hold pigments while painting), from porco (pig) with -ella (suffix forming diminutives).
Noun
porcelain (countable and uncountable, plural porcelains)
- A hard white translucent ceramic, originally made by firing kaolin, quartz, and feldspar at high temperatures but now also inclusive of similar artificial materials, also often (figurative) such a material as a symbol of the fragility, elegance, etc. traditionally associated with porcelain goods.
- Tableware and toilets are both made of porcelain.
- China or fine china; porcelain tableware.
- He set the table with our porcelain and stemware.
- (now usually in the plural) An object made of porcelain, (particularly) art objects or items of tableware.
- The museum has an extensive collection of rare Chinese porcelains.
- (often capitalized) A kind of pigeon with deep brown and off-white feathers.
Derived terms
- Chantilly porcelain
- ivory porcelain
- porcelain blue
- porcelain cement
- porcelain clay
- porcelain color
- porcelain crab
- porcelain doll
- porcelainist
- porcelain kiln
- porcelain-maker
- porcelain-making
- porcelain oven
- porcelain shell
- porcelain ware
- porcelain-white
- porcelaneous
Verb
porcelain (third-person singular simple present porcelains, present participle porcelaining, simple past and past participle porcelained)
- To coat with a porcelain enamel.
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors copied and adjusted this Wiktionary entry in accordance with NWE standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit for this article is due to both New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions at Wiktionary is accessible to researchers here:
