Clay

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /kleɪ/

Definitions

1. A soft, sticky earth material that becomes hard when dried or baked, commonly used for making pottery, bricks, and sculptures
2. A malleable natural substance found in soil that hardens when fired or dried, primarily utilized in the creation of ceramics, bricks, and artistic sculptures
3. A pliable, fine-grained material occurring in the earth which, after drying or baking, retains hardness, often fashioned into pottery, brick, and artistic works

Etymology: Clay is one of the oldest stuff-words in English, and its name comes from the idea of sticking. The Proto-Indo-European root *gleyH- meant "to glue, paste, stick together," and the same root gave Latin "glūten," the source of English "glue." Clay is the sticky, mouldable earth that holds together when wet, so the name describes how it behaves rather than what it looks like. The word reached English from Old English "clǣġ," which came from Proto-West Germanic and Proto-Germanic forms. Its relatives are found across the Germanic languages, including Dutch "klei," German "Klei," and Danish "klæg," all meaning the same thing. Ancient Greek "glía," meaning glue, belongs to the same family, as does Russian "glina," meaning clay. In Middle English the word was spelled "cley," and it kept its basic sense of wet, workable earth that hardens when dried or fired. Related English words such as "clag" and "clog" share the same sticky root, reflecting the older idea of something that clings and clumps.

Synonyms: earth, soil, mud, dirt, paste

Antonyms: rock, stone, sand, gravel, dryness