A hard, white, translucent ceramic material made by heating clay and other materials at high temperatures. Often used for fine dinnerware and decorative objects.
From French 'porcelaine', from Italian 'porcellana', originally meaning cowrie shell. Named for the shell's smooth, white appearance that resembled the ceramic material developed in China.
Porcelain got its name from a seashell because medieval Europeans thought Chinese ceramics looked like the smooth, glossy surface of cowrie shells - they had no idea how this mysterious 'white gold' was actually made.
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