Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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adj
Composed of clay or containing (much) clay; clayish.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: argillaceous, argillous
Antonyms: nonclayey, unclayed
adj
Covered or dirtied with clay.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Resembling clay; claylike, clayish.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: bolar
Antonyms: nonclayey
adj
Of the human body, as contrasted with the soul; bodily, human, mortal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
resembling or containing clay
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: argillaceous
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
(used of soil) compact and fine-grained
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: cloggy, heavy
Antonyms: none provided
History
From Middle English cleyy, cleyye (“clayish; messy; unclean”) [and other forms], either: * from Middle English clei, cley (“clay; clayey soil; clay-containing material used as mortar or plaster”) [and other forms] + -i (suffix forming adjectives); clei, cley is derived from Old English clǣġ (“clay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gleh1y-, *gley- (“to smear; to stick; glue; putty”); or * from Old English clǣig (“clayey”), from clǣġ (“clay”) (see above) + -iġ (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is equivalent to clay + -ey (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), with the -e- included to avoid the occurrence of -yy. Sense 4 (“of the human body, as contrasted with the soul”) may allude to the biblical account of God creating man from earth; see Genesis 2:7 (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”
Across languages
30 source translations are retained for this English entry.
