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porcelain

[pawr-suh-lin, pohr-; pawrs-lin, pohrs-]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

a strong, vitreous, translucent ceramic material, biscuit-fired at a low temperature, the glaze then fired at a very high temperature.

ware made from this.

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Origin:
1520–30; < French porcelaine < Italian porcellana orig., a type of cowry shell, apparently likened to the vulva of a sow, noun use of feminine of porcellano of a young sow, equivalent to porcell(a), diminutive of porca sow (see pork, -elle) + -ano -an

Related forms

por·ce·la·ne·ous, por·cel·la·ne·ous

[pawr-suh-ley-nee-uhs, pohr-] , adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To porcelain

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Porcelain is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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Example Sentences

Or that a gardener's cottage, charming though it may be, would seem as precious as plover's eggs in a porcelain.

Porcelain has now been distributed around several departments which, between them, manage only about a dozen sales a year.

Experts in rare coins, porcelain and other arcane areas have been laid off or turned into consultants.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

porcelain (ˈpɔːslɪn, -leɪn, ˈpɔːsə-)

—n
1.	a more or less translucent ceramic material, the principal ingredients being kaolin and petuntse (hard paste) or other clays, ground glassy substances, soapstone, bone ash, etc
2.	an object made of this or such objects collectively
3.	(modifier) of, relating to, or made from this material: a porcelain cup

[C16: from French porcelaine, from Italian porcellana cowrie shell, porcelain (from its shell-like finish), literally: relating to a sow (from the resemblance between a cowrie shell and a sow's vulva), from porcella little sow, from porca sow, from Latin; see pork]

porcellaneous

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

porcelain

c.1530, from M.Fr. porcelaine, from It. porcellana "porcelain" (13c.), lit. "cowrie shell," the chinaware so called from resemblance to the shiny surface of the shells. The shell's name in It. is from porcella "young sow," fem. of L. porcellus "young pig," dim. of porculus "piglet," dim. of porcus "pig."

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Supposedly the shells were so called because the shape of the orifice reminded someone of the vaginas of pigs.

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arcanist artware Belleek biscuit bone china bone porcelain

Slang

bow to the porcelain altar drive the porcelain bus hug the porcelain god kiss the porcelain god

kiss the porcelain god pray to the porcelain god ride the porcelain bus

Matching Quote

"It is only following out nature. As a child, I never cared for things that girls usually do; dolls never possessed any charms for me. I couldn't see the sense of cuddling bits of porcelain with senseless faces; the only things I wanted were a jack-knife, a gimlet, and pieces of wood. My friends were horrified.... I sighed sometimes, because I was not like other girls, but wisely concluded that I couldn't help it, and sought further consolation from my tools.... I was famous for my kites; and my sleds were the envy and admiration of all the boys in town. I'm not surprised at what I've done. I'm only sorry I couldn't have had as good a chance as a boy, and have been put to my trade regularly."

-Margaret Knight

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porcelain

por·ce·lain