argillaceous

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin argillaceus, from argilla (clay), from Ancient Greek ἄργιλλος (árgillos, white clay, potter's earth), from ἀργός (argós, white).

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

argillaceous (comparative more argillaceous, superlative most argillaceous)

  1. (chiefly geology) pertaining to clay; made of, containing, or resembling clay
    • 1864, Fitz-Hugh Ludlow, The Atlantic:
      [] natural colossi from two to five hundred feet high, done in argillaceous sandstone or a singular species of conglomerate, all of which owe their existence almost entirely to the agency of wind.
    • 1994, Jeanette Winterson, Art & Lies, page 104:
      The gleam of the land is in its rocks, the fine-grained argillaceous rocks, here, not purple or grey, but green of living stone.

Translations[edit]