clay

Meanings

Noun

• A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
• An earth material with ductile qualities.
• A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate.
• The material of the human body.
• A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
• A clay pipe for smoking tobacco.
• A clay pigeon.
• Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims

Verb

• To add clay to, to spread clay onto.
• To purify using clay.

Related

Opposite words

• soul, spirit

Narrower meaning words

• kaolin, kaoline

Origin

• From Middle English cley, clay, from Old English clǣġ ("clay"), from Proto-West Germanic *klaij, from Proto-Germanic *klajjaz ("clay"), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- ("to glue, paste, stick together").
• Cognate with Dutch klei ("clay"), Low German Klei ("clay"), German Klei, Danish klæg ("clay"); compare Ancient Greek γλία, Latin glūten ("glue") (whence ultimately English glue), Ukrainian глина ("clay"). Related also to clag, clog.