Standard Lemma guide

ceramic

adj · noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /səˈɹæmɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -æmɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: S ER0 AE1 M IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Made of material produced by the high-temperature firing of inorganic, nonmetallic rocks and minerals.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • A ceramic vase stood on the table.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A hard, brittle, inorganic, nonmetallic material, made by firing a material such as clay at a high temperature.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • Joan made the dish from ceramic.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An object made of this material.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • Joe had dozens of ceramics in his apartment.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

of or relating to or made from a ceramic

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a ceramic dish

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an artifact made of hard brittle material produced from nonmetallic minerals by firing at high temperatures

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: instrumentality, instrumentation

Narrower terms: brick

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κεραμικός (keramikós, “potter's”), from κέραμος (kéramos, “potter's clay”), perhaps from a pre-Hellenic word or from Proto-Indo-European *kerh2- (“to heat, burn, fire”).

Across languages

Translations

110 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: خَزَفِيّ (ḵazafiyy) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Arabic: سِرَميك (siramīk) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Arabic: سيراميك (sīrāmīk) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Armenian: կերամիկական (keramikakan) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Armenian: կավագործական (kavagorcakan) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Armenian: խեցեգործական (xecʻegorcakan) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Azerbaijani: keramika — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Basque: zeramika — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Belarusian: керамі́чны (kjeramíčny) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Bulgarian: кера́мичен (kerámičen) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Catalan: ceràmic — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陶器 (táoqì) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Czech: keramický — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Esperanto: ceramika — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Finnish: keraaminen — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • French: céramique — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Friulian: ceramic — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Galician: cerámico — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • German: keramisch — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Ancient Greek: κεραμικός (keramikós) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Hungarian: kerámia- — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Ido: ceramikala — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Irish: criaga — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Italian: ceramico — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Norman: céramique — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Polish: ceramiczny — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Portuguese: cerâmico — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Romanian: ceramic — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Russian: керами́ческий (keramíčeskij) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Spanish: cerámico — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Turkish: seramik — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Ukrainian: керамі́чний (keramíčnyj) — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Welsh: seramig — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Welsh: ceramig — of or pertaining to ceramic as material
  • Albanian: qeramike — material
  • Arabic: خَزَف (ḵazaf) — material
  • Armenian: խեցեղեն (xecʻeġen) — material
  • Armenian: կերամիկա (keramika) — material
  • Azerbaijani: keramika — material
  • Belarusian: кера́міка (kjerámika) — material
  • Bulgarian: кера́мика (kerámika) — material
  • Catalan: ceràmica — material
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陶瓷 (táocí) — material
  • Czech: keramika — material
  • Czech: hlína — material
  • Danish: keramik — material
  • Dutch: keramiek — material
  • Esperanto: ceramiko — material
  • Estonian: keraamika — material
  • Finnish: keramiikka — material
  • Finnish: keraami — material
  • French: céramique — material
  • Galician: cerámica — material
  • Georgian: კერამიკა (ḳeramiḳa) — material
  • German: Keramik — material
  • Greek: κεραμική (keramikí) — material
  • Hebrew: קֶרָמִיקָה (kerámika) — material
  • Hindi: मृत्तिका कृति (mŕttikā kŕti) — material
  • Hungarian: kerámia — material
  • Hungarian: cserép — material
  • Icelandic: keramik — material
  • Ido: ceramiko — material
  • Indonesian: keramik — material
  • Irish: ceirmeach — material
  • Italian: ceramica — material
  • Japanese: 陶器 (tōki) — material
  • Japanese: 陶芸品 (tōgeihin) — material
  • Japanese: セラミックス (seramikkusu) — material
  • Kazakh: керамика (keramika) — material
  • Korean: 세라믹스 (seramikseu) — material
  • Korean: 세라믹 (seramik) — material
  • Kyrgyz: керамика (keramika) — material
  • Lao: ເຊລາມິກ (sē lā mik) — material
  • Latvian: keramika — material
  • Lithuanian: keramika — material
  • Macedonian: керамика (keramika) — material
  • Malay: seramik — material
  • Mongolian: керамик (keramik) — material
  • Norwegian Bokmål: keramikk — material
  • Iranian Persian: سِرامیک (serâmik) — material
  • Polish: ceramika — material
  • Portuguese: cerâmica — material
  • Romanian: ceramică — material
  • Russian: кера́мика (kerámika) — material
  • Serbo-Croatian: кера̀мика — material
  • Serbo-Croatian: keràmika — material
  • Slovak: keramika — material
  • Slovene: kerámika — material
  • Spanish: cerámica — material
  • Swedish: keramik — material
  • Tajik: кулолӣ (kuloli) — material
  • Thai: เซรามิก (see-raa-mìk) — material
  • Turkish: seramik — material
  • Ukrainian: кера́міка (kerámika) — material
  • Uzbek: keramika — material
  • Vietnamese: gốm — material
  • Yiddish: קעראַמיק (keramik) — material
  • Armenian: խեցեղեն (xecʻeġen) — object
  • Armenian: կերամիկա (keramika) — object
  • Azerbaijani: keramika — object
  • Bulgarian: кера́мика (kerámika) — object
  • Finnish: keramiikkaesine — object
  • Galician: cerámica — object
  • Hungarian: kerámia — object
  • Portuguese: cerâmica — object
  • Russian: керами́ческое изде́лие (keramíčeskoje izdélije) — object
  • Tajik: сафолӣ (safoli) — object
  • Tajik: кулолӣ (kuloli) — object
  • Turkish: seramik — object
  • Ukrainian: керамі́чний ви́ріб (keramíčnyj výrib) — object
Real reading context

ceramic in complete knowledge articles