china

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (17)  · 
The distinctive mark on the china was an anchor, which was slightly varied, and at times entwined with one or two swords.

View all »
Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun High-quality porcelain or ceramic ware, originally made in China.
  2. noun Porcelain or earthenware used for the table.
  3. Word History
    Our term china for porcelain or ceramic ware is a shortening of chinaware and probably china dishes. Although the word china is identical in spelling to the name of the country, there are 16th- and 17th-century spellings like chiney, cheny, and cheney that reflect the borrowing into English of the Persian term for this porcelain, chīnī. The Persian word and the Sanskrit word cīnāḥ, "Chinese people,” which gave us the English name for the country, go back to the Chinese word Qín, the name of the dynasty that ruled China from 221 to 206 B.C.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • The lady exclaimed for her china, but was put to silence by her husband's saying, "I can forgive your little curiosity, madam, but you must pay the penalty. —  Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10)
  • She knows the names and eras of china, and has discrimination. —  Floyd Grandon's Honor
  • Mrs. Wright washed up and put away the china, and Jack had gone to prepare for the night's work. —  Chatterbox, 1906
  • She ate from egg-shell china, and drank from glasses, so crystal clear and thin, that they long stood to Mrs. Cherry as a synonym for perfection It's as purty as them glasses of Mis' Worth'ton's," was her final word of praise And Helen Louise and Peter ate and ate and ate, until their hostess began to be anxious and wondered where they were putting it all Then George smuggled in the Victrola, and behind carefully closed doors Arethusa gave a Concert which endeared her to a music-loving Helen Louise forever, as the brightest memory of her life. —  The Heart of Arethusa
  • The china is all stored away in the deep cellar. —  Ahead of the Army
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Words tagged china

Stats

This word has been looked up 136 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Persian chīnī, ultimately from Chinese (Mandarin) Qín, Qin; see Qin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Short for chinaware, where china is the European name (China) of the country (called by its own people Chung Kwoh, the Middle Kingdom or Country, or Chung Hwa Kwoh, the Central Flowery Country) used attributively. Cf. Spanish china, chinaware, China silk, china-root; Hindustani Persian chīnī, china.
  2. Erroneous spelling of kina or quina, perhaps suggested by the unrelated chinchona, cinchona.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/ˈkinə/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word exactly 42 times a year.

Recently looked up

possession · terrifying · possess · Portuguese · portray

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket