porcelain [M16th] The West did not discover the secret of Chinese porcelain until the 18th century, but when it was first imported the hard shiny finish reminded people of the gloss on the cowrie shell. English borrowed the French name for the shell, porcelain, which had come from the Italian porcellana ‘cowrie shell, porcelain’. This in turn came from porcella ‘young sow’ from porcus ‘pig’. The connection between pigs and cowrie shells was that the shape of cowrie shells was thought to be suggestive of the exposed outer genitalia of young sows.