Chinawares

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collective term for porcelain and ceramic items, often used for serving food and drink
2. Referring to dishes, cups, and utensils crafted from clay and hardened by heat, valuable for their craftsmanship
3. Describing fine pottery products, particularly those from China, celebrated for their quality and artistry

Etymology: "Chinawares" is simply the plural of "chinaware," so the story is that of its two parts. "China" is the country, and the name for the material came from the place where porcelain was first made in quantity, which Europeans knew as a source of this fine ceramic long before they could make it themselves. "Ware" is an older English word for manufactured goods or articles of a particular kind, the same element found in "silverware," "earthenware," and "glassware," where it names a category of objects rather than a substance. Put together, the compound follows a pattern English used repeatedly: a place or material name followed by "-ware" to mean the goods made from it. The plural form simply counts individual pieces or sets of such dishes, as in cupboards full of chinawares. The word is a plain, transparent compound, so its meaning has changed very little from its literal sense of wares made of China.