Terminology -- 'Stoneware' in Chinese

[peterp]

Terminology:

Regarding "stoneware", this is a new concept in Chinese ceramics. I mean not only the structural concept, but also the term and character itself.
It seems to have been introduced from Japan in more recent times, which in turn probably had it from the west. There is not even an original character for stoneware in Chinese, which is 炻. The character might be a creation of Japanese origin (a Kanji), but not sure. It might just be something that was never in general use in Chinese and thus little known. The left part of the character (火) means fire, the right part (石) stone. Most Chinese collector do not know this even now, and it is not used in everyday language.

The Chinese differentiate only between porcelain (瓷) and earthenware (陶), or they use 陶瓷, the combination of the two can be translated as a general term for all types of 'ceramics' or 'pottery'.
I only got aware of the fact the matter because in some Chinese language books or catalogs translated from western ceramics sources that specific character is used in the picture description of items we here would consider to be porcelain.