clayey

Meaning

1. Composed of clay or containing (much) clay; clayish.
2. Covered or dirtied with clay.
3. Resembling clay; claylike, clayish.
4. (figuratively) Of the human body, as contrasted with the soul; bodily, human, mortal.

Opposite of

nonclayey, unclayed

Synonyms

argillaceous

muddy

heavy

clayish

loamy

cloggy

mild clay

earthen

miry

turbid

Translations

argilloso

arcilloso

argileux

tonhaltig

gredoso

argiloso

tonartig

kleiachtig

argilenc

lehmig

lourd

glaiseux

argil·lós

طمي

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkleɪ(j)i/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cleii

Inherited from Middle English: clei

Inherited from Old English: clǣġ

Inherited from Old English: clǣig

In summary

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.”