Claypan

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A wide, flat land area that is generally parched and composed of hardened clay where water can gather briefly
2. A large, dry expanse of soil primarily made up of clay that can sometimes hold pools of water after rain
3. A broad, flattened region characterized by dry, compacted soil that is predominantly clay and may temporarily retain water after precipitation

Etymology: Claypan is about as transparent as English compounds get: "clay" joined to "pan," and the second element is the one that carries the surprise. "Pan" in this sense is the flat, shallow vessel a cook might use, and the image transfers neatly to the landscape. A claypan is a level basin of hard, impervious clay, so water that arrives after rain cannot soak down and simply sits on the surface until it evaporates. The compound is built from two plain English words, so the history is a matter of combining existing materials rather than borrowing from another language. The clay element is the older, more widely shared of the two, and the pan element supplies the sense of a shallow dish-like hollow, which is why the term describes ground that looks like a dish turned upside down, or rather a dish set out flat to catch whatever rain falls.

Synonyms: clay flat, clay bed