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famille

noun
  1. a type of Chinese porcelain characterized either by a design on a background of yellow (famille jaune) or black (famille noire) or by a design in which the predominant colour is pink (famille rose) or green (famille verte)
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Word Origin

C19: literally: family
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for famille

Historical Examples

  • We have noted the green family, "famille verte," of Kang-he.

    Chats on Oriental China

    J. F. Blacker

  • In the last reign we considered, but only shortly, this "famille rose."

  • This glaze could be fairly described as late "famille verte."

  • To invent some combination by which the famille Roque should take itself off.

    Lady Barbarina

    Henry James

  • Mackenzie, though the paternity of his famille déplorable of novels was no secret, preserved a strict nominal incognito.

    The English Novel

    George Saintsbury