Etymologically
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porcelain

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 14 October 2026 at 08:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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