porcelain
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɔːsəlɪn/
ipa: /ˈpɔɹsəlɪn/
ipa: /ˈpɔɹslɪn/
ipa: /ˈpoːslɘn/
Forms: form: porcelains
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.
Senses: examples: text: Tableware and toilets are both made of porcelain.
text: Any power rail needs to be well insulated from earth, to minimise current leakage, and so the two power rails on the Underground sit on curiously genteel and antique-looking porcelain pots.
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 136:
glosses: A hard white translucent ceramic, originally made by firing kaolin, quartz, and feldspar at high temperatures but now also inclusive of similar artificial materials; also often (figurative) such a material as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.
examples: text: iij. potts of Erthe payntid, callyd Porseland.
ref: c. 1530, letter in Original Letters Illustrative of English History, Vol. II, p. 242
text: He set the table with our porcelain and stemware.
glosses: Synonym of china: porcelain tableware.
synonyms: word: china
extra: porcelain tableware
examples: text: [...] that earthen or pliable matter commonly called porcellan, which is pure white,... wherof vessels of all kinds are very curiously framed...
ref: 1599, E. de Sande, translated by Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation, 2nd edition, volume II, page 91:
glosses: Synonym of kaolin: the kind of clay traditionally used in China to manufacture porcelain.
synonyms: word: kaolin
extra: the kind of clay traditionally used in China to manufacture porcelain
examples: text: The museum has an extensive collection of rare Chinese porcelains.
glosses: An object made of porcelain, (particularly) art objects or items of tableware.
examples: text: In the kingdomes of Caiacan and Carazan, certaine sea shels are currant, which some men terme Porcelline.
ref: 1601, Giovanni Botero, translated by Robert Johnson, The Trauellers Breuiat, or, An Historicall Description of the Most Famous Kingdomes in the World, page 104:
glosses: Synonym of cowrie.
synonyms: word: cowrie
examples: text: 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.
ref: c. 1665, Pierre Esprit de Radisson, Voyages, 1885 edition, page 49:
glosses: Synonym of wampum: strings of shells, beads, etc. used as ornamentation or currency; the composite shells, beads, etc.
synonyms: word: wampum
extra: strings of shells, beads, etc. used as ornamentation or currency; the composite shells, beads, etc.
examples: text: Those pretty spangled Toys [...] known by various names, as Porcelains, Hyacinths, Ermines, &c.
ref: 1855, The Poultry Chronicle, number 3, page 9:
glosses: A kind of pigeon with deep brown and off-white feathers.
Synonyms: sense: all senses
word: china
sense: porcelain tableware
word: chinaware
Hypernyms: material ceramic
earthenware
Hyponyms: hard-paste
soft-paste
softpaste
Derived terms: bow down before the porcelain god
Chantilly porcelain
drive the porcelain bus
ivory porcelain
Plymouth porcelain
point Percy at the porcelain
porcelain aorta
porcelainberry
porcelain blue
porcelain bus
porcelain cement
porcelain clay
porcelain color
porcelain crab
porcelain doll
porcelain earth
porcelain god
porcelain goddess
porcelain grain
porcelainist
porcelainite
porcelainize
porcelain jasper
porcelain kiln
porcelain lace
porcelainlike
porcelain-maker
porcelain-making
porcelain oven
porcelain paper
porcelain printing
porcelain shell
porcelain skin
porcelain spar
porcelain-tinted
porcelain tooth
porcelain ware
porcelainware
porcelain-white
porcelaneous
pray to the porcelain god
pray to the porcelain goddess
protoporcelain
semiporcelain
tender porcelain
worship the porcelain god
worship the porcelain goddess