PORCELAIN  , the name of that

kind of ceramic ware which is characterized by a translucent body, also loosely used for the finer kinds of ware generally, popularly known as " china " (see CERAMICS) . The French porcelaine, from which the word comes into English, is an adaptation of the Italian porcellana, a cowrie-shell, the beautifully polished surface of which caused the name to be applied to the ware . The Italian word is generally taken to be from porcella, diminutive of porco, pig, from a sup-posed resemblance of the shell to a pig's back .