clay

CEFRA2

/kleɪ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A soft natural earth used to make pots and bricks.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate.

Examples

  • Now, just let the clay slide between your fingers.

  • Tom worked the clay into a vase.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • [kl̥eɪ]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An earth material with ductile qualities.

  2. A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.

  3. The material of the human body.

More examples

In context

  • The French Open is played on clay.

  • We went shooting clays at the weekend.

  • From clay we are made.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She molded the wet blank into a small bowl for her project.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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