Kaolin
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A fine clay, rich in kaolinite, used in ceramics, papermaking, etc. countable, uncountable
"The composition of the Eastern or proper China ware, according to accounts that have great marks of authenticity, is from two earths; one of which is, as was before mentioned, vitrescent, and is called Petunse; the other a refractory or apyrous earth; and called Kaolin."
- 2 a fine usually white clay formed by the weathering of aluminous minerals (as feldspar); used in ceramics and as an absorbent and as a filler (e.g., in paper) wordnet
Example
More examples"The composition of the Eastern or proper China ware, according to accounts that have great marks of authenticity, is from two earths; one of which is, as was before mentioned, vitrescent, and is called Petunse; the other a refractory or apyrous earth; and called Kaolin."
Etymology
From French kaolin, François Xavier d'Entrecolles's irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 高嶺土 /高岭土 (gāolǐngtǔ, “Gaoling earth”), from 高嶺 /高岭 (Gāolǐng, “High Ridge”), a village in Fuliang County, Jingdezhen Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, that became Jingdezhen's primary source of this kind of clay during the early to mid-Qing dynasty.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.