clayey

Or clay·ish

[kley-ee]

adjective

clayier, clayiest 

1. covered or smeared with clay.

2. like or resembling clay.

3. full of or abounding in clay.

Word History and Origins

Origin of clayey¹

before 1050; Middle English cleii, Old English clǣig; clay, -ey ¹

Example Sentences

The ground was black and clayey and riddled with hundreds of slate arrow points, as if from a prehistoric drive-by shooting.

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It was a barbarous thing, a blind clayey hole with folding chairs for the family teetering on one side and raw dirt heaped on the other.

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And Aster alpinus chimes in: “My ancestors hailed from above the timber line — you know, like, the Alps. I won’t appreciate some sodden, clayey spot in your garden.”

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His art room’s got a clayey smell, for some reason.

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“That’s why organic matter is the perfect ingredient, whether your soil is sandy or clayey,” she said.

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