# porcelain

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpɔːsəlɪn/ · frequency rank #13,785

## Definitions
1. A hard white translucent ceramic, originally made by firing kaolin, quartz, and feldspar at high temperatures but now also inclusive of similar artificial materials; also often (figurative) such a material as a symbol of the fragility, elegance, etc. traditionally associated with porcelain goods.
2. Synonym of china: porcelain tableware.
3. Synonym of kaolin: the kind of clay traditionally used in China to manufacture porcelain.
4. An object made of porcelain, (particularly) art objects or items of tableware.
5. Synonym of cowrie.
6. Synonym of wampum: strings of shells, beads, etc. used as ornamentation or currency; the composite shells, beads, etc.
7. A kind of pigeon with deep brown and off-white feathers.

## Etymology
From Middle French porcelaine (“cowrie, wampum; china, chinaware”), from Old Italian porcellana (“cowrie; china, chinaware”), from porcella (“female piglet”) + -ana. The material was so called because of its resemblance to the shell of the cowrie. Why the cowrie was named with a word meaning “piglet” is unclear.

## Common misspellings (13)
`oprcelain`, `pocrelain`, `porccelain`, `porcealin`, `porcelainn`, `porcelani`, `porcelian`, `porcellain`, `porcleain`, `poreclain`, `porrcelain`, `pporcelain`, `procelain`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/porcelain