Word Project

The word I chose for my project was porcelain


The Oxford English Dictionary


Porcelain, n. and adj.
Pronunciation:  Brit. /ˈpɔːsl̩ᵻn/ , /ˈpɔːs(ə)lᵻn/ , /ˈpɔːsl̩eɪn/ , /ˈpɔːs(ə)leɪn/ , U.S. /ˈpɔrs


Etymology:  < Middle French, French porcelaine, †pourcelaine, †porceline
a kind of univalve mollusc with a nacreous shell, the shell itself, (now spec.) a cowrie (1298 in Marco Polo), chinaware (also 1298 in Marco Polo), a vessel made of china (c1600), beads or shells used as currency, wampum (1620 or earlier as pourceline   in the source translated in quot. 1882 at sense A. 4), apparently < Italian porcellana  , denoting both the mollusc and the ceramic material (although this is apparently first attested later (14th cent. in both senses in the Italian version of Marco Polo)), probably < porcella   female piglet, a young sow (a1400; see below) + -ana  , feminine of -ano  -an suffix, perhaps after ancient Greek χοιρίνη   small sea-mussel < χοῖρος   pig, also female genitals (see cherogril n.) + -ίνη   (see -ine suffix³). Italian porcella   is < porca   sow (a1342), feminine of porco  pork n.¹   + -ella  -ella suffix; compare porca, porcella cockle or mussel shell in which painters put their colours (1611 in apparently isolated use), porcelletta shellfish (a1488), and also porcello (male) piglet, pig (1272). Compare ( < Italian) post-classical Latin porcellana (a1540; 1622, 1626 in British sources; a1250 in a British source denoting a cowrie shell), Spanish porcelana (1495 or earlier), Catalan porcellana (14th cent.), Portuguese porcelana (15th cent. as porçelana, porçellãa), German Porzellan (1477 as porzelane in a translation of Marco Polo); also Dutch porselein (1596; < French), Swedish porslin (1640 as perselin in Perselin-faat), Danish porcelæn.

The ceramic material was apparently so named on account of the resemblance of its translucent surface to the nacreous shell of the mollusc. From at least the mid 16th cent. a popular explanation was current (cited e.g. 1557 in Scaliger ) according to which there was a glaze on chinaware that was actually made from these shells, but it is uncertain whether this dates back to the original naming of the ceramic material or whether it shows a later rationalization. (The actual details of the process of making true porcelain were not known in Europe before the 18th cent.: see China n.¹ and adj. 2   and compare sense A. 1b.)

 

The cowrie was probably originally so named on account of the resemblance of the fissure of its shell to a vulva (it is unclear whether the reference is spec. to the vulva of a sow). Compare classical Latin porcus   female genitals (see portulaca n.) and perhaps compare also Italian porcile di Venere   female genitals (1598 in an apparently isolated attestation in this sense). For instances of an apparently similar motivation for naming such molluscs, compare Venus-shell n. at Venus n.¹ Compounds 2c, Cypraea n.   However, other explanations (that also assume the ultimate derivation of porcellana   cowrie < porco   pig) have been offered.

 

The word was apparently associated already in Italian and French with the name for plants of the genus Portulaca, which was homonymous with it (see purslane n.), and the two words probably continued to influence each other in English up to the 17th or 18th cent. (compare β forms and compare the β forms at purslane n.). However, it is uncertain whether these two words are ultimately related (see portulaca n.). (Derivation from Italian porcellana   purslane (see purslane n.) has, however, been suggested as an alternative etymology of the present word.)

 

With sense B. 1b   compare earlier to point Percy at the porcelain at Percy n. 3.

 

With porcelain blue adj. and n. at Compounds 1a   compare china-blue n. at China n.¹ and adj. Compounds 2b(a).

 A. n.

 1.

a. An impermeable translucent ceramic material made from china clay or kaolin, used originally for making vessels and later also for industrial objects, in dentistry, etc. Sometimes more generally: china, esp. when of fine quality. Also: chinaware made of such material.

b. A supposed natural plaster or paste from which porcelain was believed to form spontaneously by congealing.


c. fig. With reference to the fineness, fragility, etc., associated with porcelain


 2. An article or vessel made of porcelain; a piece of porcelain or chinaware. Usu. in pl. Now chiefly in specialist contexts.



 B. adj.

 1. 

a. Of porcelain; made of porcelain or china. Also: (of a bath, washbasin, etc.) coated in porcelain enamel.

 

b. humorous slang (orig. U.S.). Designating a lavatory; esp. in phrases referring to urination or the posture adopted by a person vomiting

Derivatives       

porcelainist   n. a maker or decorator of porcelain; a connoisseur or collector of porcelain items.

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Merriam-Webster Dictionary

porcelain noun por·ce·lain \ˈpȯr-s(ə-)lən\

a hard, white substance that is very delicate and that is made by baking clay

Origin of PORCELAIN

Middle French porcelaine cowrie shell, porcelain, from Italian porcellana, from porcello vulva, literally, little pig, from Latin porcellus, diminutive of porcus pig, vulva; from the shape of the shell — more at farrow

First Known Use: circa 1530

Medical/Scientific Definition of PORCELAIN

:  a hard, fine-grained, nonporous, and usually translucent and white ceramic ware that consists essentially of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar and that has many uses in dentistry