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Glite Dictionary
bone china

bone china

2 4.4
Fine white porcelain made with powdered bone that is strong and slightly see-through
  • noun
  • /boʊn ˈʧaɪnə/
translation icon : porcelana de hueso
  • The tray, heavy with bone china, trembled between her thin wrists.
  • fine bone china
  • bone china cup
  • bone china plate

It's just John Lewis white bone China hand wash only not for the microwave.

Examples

  • When Mama and I drove up one Saturday, Caroline served us shrimp salad on bone china with a scalloped gold edge.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The elegant bone china plates were displayed beautifully on the dining table.

  • You bring the bone china cup to your lips.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • It's just John Lewis white bone China hand wash only not for the microwave.

    Zoe Sugg

  • The pottery dishes were a copy of a famous French bone china.

    Academic text (1998)

  • I remove the cozy from the teapot and pour Assam tea, a minute bronze lake, into bone china cups.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • His dining-room hutch held sterling silver, bone china, real stoneware, and expensive linen napkins.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Stainless steel plates, worn griddles, bone china sugar pots—all these relics of childhood have been replaced.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • She carefully selected a bone china teapot for her afternoon tea party.

  • The restaurant served its finest dishes on bone china, emphasizing the quality of the meal.

Synonyms

porcelain
vsbone china
58 4.3

A hard white clay people make dishes, cups, and vases from

is a specific form made with bone ash and noted for extra whiteness
chinaware
vsbone china
1 4.9

Dishes and cups made from fine porcelain used at the table

is the material itself rather than finished tableware

How Fine

bone china
2 4.4
porcelain
58 4.3
stoneware
  • Specialized
2 5.1
earthenware
  • Specialized
3 6.6

Surface Forms

bone china singular
bone chinas plural

Morphology

bone + china

The compound literally combines 'bone' and 'china', so a learner who knows both words can infer that it is a type of porcelain involving bone, making the core meaning partially predictable. However, the specific manufacturing detail (bone ash) and the technical qualities (fine, translucent, stronger) are specialized and not fully derivable from the constituents, so it is not fully transparent.

Etymology

The noun bone china comes from the real bone used to make it: potters burned animal bones to make a white ash and mixed this with clay to make very thin but strong cups. So the name explains why it is known as a 'fine' and 'strong' kind of china.