por·ce·lain (pôr?s?-l?n, pôrs?l?n)n.1. A hard, white, translucent ceramic made by firing a pure clay and then glazing it with variously colored fusible materials; china.2. An object made of this substance.[French porcelaine, cowry shell, porcelain, from Old French, from Old Italian porcellana, from feminine of porcellano, of a young sow (from the shell’s resemblance to a pig’s back), from porcella, young sow, diminutive of porca, sow, from Latin, feminine of porcus, pig; see porko- in Indo-European roots.]por?ce·la?ne·ous (-l??n?-?s) adj.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.porcelain (?p??sl?n; -le?n; ?p??s?-) n1. (Ceramics) 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, etc2. (Ceramics) an object made of this or such objects collectively3. (Ceramics) (modifier) of, relating to, or made from this material: a porcelain cup. [C16: from French porcelaine, from Italian porcellana cowrie shell, porcelain (from its shell-like finish), literally: relating to a sow (from the resemblance between a cowrie shell and a sow’s vulva), from porcella little sow, from porca sow, from Latin; see pork] porcellaneous adjCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014por?ce?lain (?p?r s? l?n, ?po?r-; ?p?rs l?n, ?po?rs-) n. 1. a strong, vitreous, translucent ceramic material, made of kaolin and feldspar, with a transparent glaze fired at a high temperature. 2. ware made from this. [1520?30;