Do you speak a little Italian when you say 'porcelain'?

'Porcelain' is a word borrowed from Italian 'porcellana'. The word entered the English language some time around 1530.

porcelain [noun] [circa 1530]

• a hard, fine-grained, sonorous, nonporous, and usually translucent and white ceramic ware that consists essentially of ...
• soft-paste porcelain

See 'porcelain' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from Italian.

note: Also via French porcelaine from Italian porcellana ‘cowrie shell’ hence ‘chinaware’ (from its resemblance to the dense polished shells).
Etymology: Middle French 'porcelaine' cowrie shell, porcelain, from Italian 'porcellana' from 'porcello' vulva, literally, little pig, from Latin 'porcellus' diminutive of 'porcus' pig, vulva; from the shape of the shell

See more loan words from 1500s.