porcelain

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a hard, fine, usually white and translucent ceramic fired at a high temperature

   The museum displayed a delicate bowl made of blue-and-white porcelain.

2. 2
   noun

   objects or tableware made from this ceramic

   The cabinet held several pieces of eighteenth-century porcelain.

3. 3
   adj

   made of porcelain or resembling it in smoothness, paleness, or delicacy

   The doll had a painted porcelain face.

Common collocations

• porcelain clay Noun + noun

Through French porcelaine from Italian porcellana, originally "cowrie shell," from porcella, "young sow." Europeans transferred the shell's name to fine Chinese ceramic because its smooth, pale, translucent surface resembled a cowrie shell.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images