porcelain
Americannoun
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a strong, vitreous, translucent ceramic material, biscuit-fired at a low temperature, the glaze then fired at a very high temperature.
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ware made from this.
noun
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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
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an object made of this or such objects collectively
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(modifier) of, relating to, or made from this material
a porcelain cup
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of porcelain
1520–30; < French porcelaine < Italian porcellana originally, 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
Explanation
Your mom's favorite white china plates are probably made out of porcelain. Porcelain is a nearly translucent ceramic material used to make plates, bowls, and cups. The dishes at a fancy restaurant are often porcelain, a fine, delicate kind of china. Sometimes knickknacks, dolls, and art objects are also made from porcelain. The word comes from the Italian word for "cowrie shell," porcellana, which compares the shiny look of porcelain to the polished inside of a shell. Porcelain has a tricky spelling — although it ends with ain, it rhymes with ten, not rain.
Vocabulary lists containing porcelain
The House on Mango Street
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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White
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In her studio, surrounded by shelves of porcelain figures she recovered from Altadena and refired, she fashions whimsical sculptures imitating feminine figures and feline forms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
She had only started working with high-fire porcelain five months before the fire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
The results are flaky rows of delicate porcelain that resemble oversize scales or ruffling coral.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Rogers Jones Auctioneers are selling Young's original working drawings for his celebrated porcelain.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Low voices, the clatter of porcelain and metal.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
In a clever piece of installation design, shelves built around the screen bring the painting’s illusions to life, displaying real bronzes, porcelains, texts and scholarly objects from Lee’s collection—modern curation fulfilling classical cultural capital.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
By the late fifteenth century, Ottoman ships were trading with India, and goods such as Chinese silks and porcelains furnished the homes of the wealthy in Istanbul.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
“I’m not going to lie to you, it will never seem normal,” Bush says as she walks Obama past the porcelains and paintings in the Center Hall.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2022
The latter piece, titled “The Barmecide Feast,” is well built — down to the corny Late Empire porcelains employed as backdrop on the luminous white set.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2017
More or less independent later experiments in France and England led to Sevres, Wedgwood, and Spode porcelains.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
