Porcelain
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A hard white translucent ceramic, originally made by firing kaolin, quartz, and feldspar at high temperatures but now also inclusive of similar artificial materials; also often (figurative) such a material as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. uncountable, usually
"Tableware and toilets are both made of porcelain."
- 2 ceramic ware made of a more or less translucent ceramic wordnet
- 3 Synonym of china: porcelain tableware. uncountable, usually
"iij. potts of Erthe payntid, callyd Porseland."
- 4 Synonym of kaolin: the kind of clay traditionally used in China to manufacture porcelain. obsolete, uncountable
"[...] that earthen or pliable matter commonly called porcellan, which is pure white,... wherof vessels of all kinds are very curiously framed..."
- 5 An object made of porcelain, (particularly) art objects or items of tableware. countable, plural-normally
"The museum has an extensive collection of rare Chinese porcelains."
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- 6 Synonym of cowrie. countable, rare
"In the kingdomes of Caiacan and Carazan, certaine sea shels are currant, which some men terme Porcelline."
- 7 Synonym of wampum: strings of shells, beads, etc. used as ornamentation or currency; the composite shells, beads, etc. countable, historical, obsolete
"We mett severall gangs of men to our greatest disadvantage, ffor we weare forced to sing, and those that came to see us gave porcelaine to those that most did us injury."
- 8 A kind of pigeon with deep brown and off-white feathers. capitalized, countable, often
"Those pretty spangled Toys [...] known by various names, as Porcelains, Hyacinths, Ermines, &c."
- 1 To coat with a porcelain enamel. transitive
Example
More examples"Nowadays, almost everyone has a modern bean-to-cup coffee maker, but we are still using a porcelain coffee filter."
Etymology
From Middle French porcelaine (“cowrie, wampum; china, chinaware”), from Old Italian porcellana (“cowrie; china, chinaware”), from porcella (“female piglet”) + -ana. The material was so called because of its resemblance to the shell of the cowrie. Why the cowrie was named with a word meaning “piglet” is unclear.
Related phrases
More for "porcelain"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.