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clay.

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

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kleɪ/[kl̥eɪ]

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

    uncountable · usually

  2. An earth material with ductile qualities.

    uncountable · usually

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

    uncountable · usually
    The French Open is played on clay.

  4. The material of the human body.

    uncountable · usually
    From clay we are made.

  5. A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

    uncountable · usually

  6. A clay pipe for smoking tobacco.

    uncountable · usually

  7. A clay pigeon.

    informal · uncountable · usually
    We went shooting clays at the weekend.

  8. Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims.

    Internet · humorous · uncountable · usually
    Vilnius is rightful Polish clay.

  9. A moth (Mythimna ferrago).

    uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *gloyHós Proto-Germanic *klajjaz Proto-West Germanic *klaij Old English clǣġ Middle English cley English clay 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.

verb/kleɪ/[kl̥eɪ]

  1. To add clay to, to spread clay onto.

    transitive

  2. To purify using clay.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *gloyHós Proto-Germanic *klajjaz Proto-West Germanic *klaij Old English clǣġ Middle English cley English clay 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.