Words / B2

KLAY/kleɪ/

Clay is a heavy, sticky soil that can be shaped when wet and hardened by heat (usually uncountable): clay soil; a clay pot. Loam and silt are other soil textures; ceramic is the fired-material twin. Test the clay content in the soil practical, then name the horizon. Mix-up: clay vs claw; claim; do not write clay for a spa slogan with no particle-size or firing in the source.

Meaning

A heavy, sticky soil that can be shaped when wet and hardened by heat (usually uncountable).

Examples

• “Test the clay content in the soil practical, then name the horizon.”
• “Fired clay featured in the archaeology catalogue, which is the ceramic sense — still date the sherd.”

Good to know

clay soil / content; a clay pot / tablet; clayey. Textures: silt / loam / sand. Fired twin: ceramic. Trap: claw. Geography, chemistry, and history. Sticky soil for pottery and bricks — quote the test.

Near in meaning

loam, silt, ceramic

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