Etymology

porcelain

por·ce·lain
P3O1R1C3E1L1A1I1N1

Today it means: A hard white translucent ceramic, originally made by firing kaolin, quartz, and feldspar at high temperatures but now also inclusive of similar artificial materials; also often (figurative) such a material as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. Full definition →

Middle French porcelaine ← Old Italian porcellana ← Italian porcello
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The story

  1. Italian · derived fromporcello“piglet”
  2. Old Italian · derived fromporcellana“cowrie; china, chinaware”
  3. Middle French · borrowed fromporcelaine“cowrie, wampum; china, chinaware”
  4. English todayporcelain

Borrowed from Middle French porcelaine (“cowrie, wampum; china, chinaware”), from Old Italian porcellana (“cowrie; china, chinaware”), from Italian porcello (“piglet”). 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.

Words from the same roots

Italianporcello all →

Porcello

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.