Keramic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A variant spelling of ceramic, relating to objects made from clay or similar materials hardened by heat
2. A variant spelling referencing items created from clay through high-temperature firing processes that are commonly used in pottery and construction
3. Pertaining to materials made by shaping and then heat-hardening clay or similar substances

Etymology: "Keramic" is an older spelling of "ceramic" that has largely dropped out of use, and it carries the same Greek roots. Those roots go back to "kéramos," the Ancient Greek word for potter's clay, which may come from a pre-Greek word or from a much older Indo-European root meaning "to heat" or "to burn." The link to fire is what makes the word work: pottery is clay transformed by heat. The Greek adjective "keramikós" meant "of the potter" or "of potter's clay," and the same stem gave the Greeks the "Kerameikos," the potters' quarter of Athens, which lent its name to the cemetery there. English took the adjective from that Greek source, and the spelling "keramic" reflects the Greek letter kappa more directly than the later "ceramic" does, which shows the Greek "k" softened to "c."

Synonyms: ceramic