petunse

English

Alternative forms

• petuntse
• petuntze

Etymology

From French petunse, pe-tun-tse, &c., from F.X. d'Entrecolles's 1712 irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 白墩子 (“white lump”), formerly used to describe the bricks transported from Qimen, Anhui, to Jingdezhen, Jiangxi.

Noun

petunse (countable and uncountable, plural petunses)

1. Rock rich in feldspar and/or mica, mixed with kaolin to create hard-paste pottery. [1727]
   • 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 86:

     Grind with strong arm, the circling chertz betwixt, / Your pure Ka-o-lins and Pe-tun-tses mixt […] .

Synonyms

• porcelain stone, pottery stone

Anagrams

• Puentes, petunes, puntees, tense up