porcelain

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɔːsəlɪn/ (UK); /ˈpɔɹs(ə)lɪn/, /ˈpɔɹs(ə)lən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French porcelaine (“cowrie shell; porcelain”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Italian porcellana (“cowrie shell”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from porcella “young sow”,^[2][3][4][6] from Latin porcellus, a diminutive of porcus “pig”.^[2][3][4][5] The ware was named for its resemblance to the lustrous surface of the cowrie shell.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fine translucent earthenware; china (about 1530, as Porseland).^[7][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Several sources explain the shell's name by a supposed resemblance of its opening to the genitals of a sow;^[3][6][5] the AHD and the Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, refer instead to the curve of a pig's back.^[2][4] The word has been used as an adjective since the 1590s,^[4][7] and figuratively for anything fine, delicate or fragile since 1638–40.^[7]

Timeline

• about 1530 – Porseland, chinaware.^[7][3][5]
• 1598 – adjective, made of porcelain.^[7][4]
• 1601 – the cowrie shell.^[7]
• 1604 – an article of porcelain.^[7]
• 1638 – figurative, fine, fragile.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A hard, white, translucent ceramic made by firing fine clay such as kaolin at high temperature; china.
2. An object made of this material.

Word family

• porcelaneous
• porcelainlike
• porcelainize

Related words

• pork
• porcine
• cowrie
• china

Usage notes

Etymonline quotes Fowler: porcelain and china mean the same thing, china being the homely term and porcelain the exotic and literary one.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press