pottery

UK/ˈpɒtəɹi/US/ˈpɑtəɹi/

nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,185 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: potteries

Pottery is the craft of shaping clay into bowls and pots. Study pottery, a pottery wheel, hand-thrown pottery.

It is the archaeologist's best friend because fired clay survives almost anything and its styles change fast, so a shard can date a site closely. Firing turns clay into a new material that cannot be softened again. The word comes from potter.

Definitions of pottery

1nounpotteryThe craft of shaping clay, and the objects made.B1+
“She took a pottery class and made her own bowls and mugs.”

pottery is a craft.

Also accepted in games: ceramics

Where it comes from

Old French poterie comes from potier, a potter, from pot.

Old French
poterie
English, today
pottery

Built from

potier · Old French — potter

From Old French poterie, from potier (“potter”), from the root of pot, equivalent to pot + ery. 13th century.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Music, Art & Culture

Practise this word

pottery in the wild

The place where a potter makes such wares is also called a pottery (plural potteries).
Pottery
However, the earliest known pottery vessels were discovered in Jiangxi, China, which date back to 18,000 BC.
Pottery
Egyptian faience is not really faience, or pottery, at all, but made of a vitreous frit, and so closer to glass.
Faience
During this time, pottery was not yet in use.
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
As the culture recovered Sub-Mycenaean pottery finally blended into the Protogeometric style, which begins Ancient Greek pottery proper.
Pottery of ancient Greece

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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