ABSTRACT
The word ceramic was initially derived from the Greek word keramos, which means roughly “burnt stuff.”1 Webster defines ceramics as “of or having to do with pottery.”2 Both of these definitions go back to the earliest origins of ceramics when early peoples dug earthy clay, mixed in some water to achieve the consistency of potter’s clay, crafted a shape, dried it in the sun, and placed it in a fire. The resulting hard, brittle material was our first ceramic that we now refer to as “earthenware.” However, over the subsequent millennia many additional materials were invented that we also think of as ceramics. The definition broadened to “the art and science of making and using solid articles formed by the action of heat on earthy raw materials.”1
