Etymology Explorer › Middle French

Where does “porcelaine” come from?

porcelaine (Middle French) comes from Old French pourcelaine, from Italian porcellana, from Italian porcella, from Italian porca, from Latin porca, from Esperanto porka, from Esperanto porko, from Latin porcus — passed , crossed.

porcelaine (Middle French): cowrie, wampum; china, chinaware

Definitions

  1. cowrie, wampum; china, chinaware

Ancestry of “porcelaine”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old FrenchpourcelaineCowrie, cockle, or similar univalve shell; The...
2Italianporcellanaporcelain, china; third-person singular present...
3Italianporcellafemale equivalent of porcello; slut, bitch, goer
4Italianporcathe ridge between two furrows; balk; sow; A...
5Latinporcasow; the ridge between two furrows; a balk
6Esperantoporkaporcine
7Esperantoporkopig
8Latinporcusa piglet, a young pig; a pig, hog; Short for...
9Proto-Italicporkospig
10Proto-Indo-Europeanpórḱospiglet
11Proto-Indo-Europeanperḱ-colored; motley; to open, rip up
12Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
13Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →