Standard Lemma guide

kaolin

noun · 2 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.

  • /ˈkeɪ.ə.lɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AW1 L IH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: K EY1 OW0 L IH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A fine clay, rich in kaolinite, used in ceramics, papermaking, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a fine usually white clay formed by the weathering of aluminous minerals (as feldspar); used in ceramics and as an absorbent and as a filler (e.g., in paper)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: china clay, china stone, kaoline, porcelain clay, terra alba

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: clay

History

Etymology

From French kaolin, François Xavier d'Entrecolles's irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 高嶺土 /高岭土 (gāolǐngtǔ, “Gaoling earth”), from 高嶺 /高岭 (Gāolǐng, “High Ridge”), a village in Fuliang County, Jingdezhen Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, that became Jingdezhen's primary source of this kind of clay during the early to mid-Qing dynasty.

Across languages

Translations

45 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: каолин (kaolin) — clay
  • Catalan: caolí — clay
  • Chinese Cantonese: 瓷土 (ci4 tou2) — clay
  • Chinese: 瓷仔土 (hûi-á-thô͘) — clay
  • Chinese: 磁仔土 (hûi-á-thô͘) — clay
  • Chinese: 碗土 (óan-thô͘) — clay
  • Chinese: 白仁土 (pe̍h-jîn-thô͘) — clay
  • Chinese: 白土 (pe̍h-thô͘) — clay
  • Chinese Mandarin: 高嶺土 /高岭土 (gāolǐngtǔ) — clay
  • Chinese Mandarin: 瓷土 (cítǔ) — clay
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陶土 (táotǔ) — clay
  • Czech: kaolín — clay
  • Czech: kaolin — clay
  • Danish: kaolin — clay
  • Danish: porcelænsjord — clay
  • Finnish: kaoliini — clay
  • French: kaolin — clay
  • Georgian: კაოლინი (ḳaolini) — clay
  • Georgian: თიხათეთრი (tixatetri) — clay
  • German: Kaolin — clay
  • Greek: καολίνης (kaolínis) — clay
  • Hungarian: kaolin — clay
  • Irish: caoilín — clay
  • Irish: cré Shíneach — clay
  • Italian: caolino — clay
  • Khmer: ដីឥដ្ឋស (dəy ǝt sɑɑ) — clay
  • Kyrgyz: каолин (kaolin) — clay
  • Macedonian: каоли́н (kaolín) — clay
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kaolin — clay
  • Norwegian Bokmål: porselensjord — clay
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kaolin — clay
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: porselensjord — clay
  • Polish: kaolin — clay
  • Portuguese: caulinita — clay
  • Romanian: caolin — clay
  • Russian: каоли́н (kaolín) — clay
  • Russian: каолини́т (kaolinít) — clay
  • Serbo-Croatian: као̀лӣн — clay
  • Serbo-Croatian: kaòlīn — clay
  • Sikkimese: ཀར་ཡོལ (kar yol) — clay
  • Spanish: caolín — clay
  • Tagalog: kawlin — clay
  • Turkish: kaolin — clay
  • Vietnamese: caolin — clay
  • Vietnamese: cao lanh — clay