china

Meaning

Noun

• Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.
• Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
• Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
• Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (species) as a medicine.
• Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
• Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
• Synonym of friend.
• Tea from China, varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
• A glazed china marble.
• A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.

Origin

• From clippings of attributive use of China, q.v., the country in East Asia. In reference to porcelain and porcelain objects, via clipping of china-ware and via this sense of Persian چین in Persia and India, which influenced the pronunciation (see below). In reference to medicine, via clipping of China root. In reference to flowers, via clipping of China rose. In reference to tea, via clipping of China tea. In Cockney slang, a clipping of china plate as a rhyme of mate. In reference to drum cymbals, a clipping of China cymbal and as a genericization of a kind of Zildjian-brand cymbal.