potter's clay
- noun
- /ˈpɑːtərz kleɪ/
- Ipa loved the earthy smell of red potter's clay and took great pleasure in shaping bowls and vessels.
Examples
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After mixing the potter's clay with water, he was ready to start creating his pottery.
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The fine texture of the potter's clay made it easy to shape into delicate bowls.
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The artist eagerly molded the potter's clay into beautiful sculptures on her wheel.
Synonyms
A heavy sticky earth that is soft when wet and used to make pots and bricks
Soft clay with no iron used to make pots and models
Fine white clay used to make porcelain and other ceramics
A fine white powder from the ground used for pottery and paper
A fine white clay made when rocks break down and used to make pottery and as a filler
A fine white clay used to make tobacco pipes, pottery or to whiten leather
How Hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
potter's + clay
The meaning is directly compositional: 'potter' (a person who makes pots) + 'clay' denotes clay associated with potters or used for pottery, and the possessive marks that relationship. This is a common, predictable noun + noun/possessive pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
The noun potter's clay comes from the soft clay a potter works on the wheel, shaped by hand into pots and bowls. So, potter's clay means the kind of clay used for 'making pottery and ceramics'.