earthenware, form of pottery fired at relatively low temperatures, so that the clay does not vitrify (become glassy), as do stoneware and porcelain clays. Occasionally, earthenware is used as a general term for all kinds of pottery.

Pottery that has been fired at low heat and is slightly more porous and coarser than stoneware and porcelain. For practical and decorative purposes, it is usually glazed. The earliest known pottery, a soft earthenware excavated at a Neolithic settlement in Turkey, is thought to be about 9,000 years old. Earthenware is still widely used for cooking, freezing, and serving. Seealso creamware.

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