clay
n. C / Un. a heavy, sticky type of earth that becomes hard when it is baked. You use it to make things like plates, pots, and bricks.
n. a fine-grained natural soil material that develops plasticity when wet and hardens permanently when fired. Often used as a medium for ceramics, sculpture, and construction materials.
The artist shapes the wet clay into a beautiful bowl.
After digging in the garden, I noticed the soil was full of thick red clay that stuck to my boots.
Traditional potters often source their clay from local riverbeds, carefully refining the raw earth to remove impurities before beginning the delicate process of throwing it on a wheel.
Uncountable when referring to the material in general; countable when referring to specific geological types or commercial varieties.