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terracotta

UK/ˌtɛɹ.əˈkɒt.ə/US/ˌtɛɹ.əˈkɑt.ə/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,047 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: terracottas

Terracotta is baked orange-brown clay used for pots and tiles. A terracotta pot, terracotta tiles, painted terracotta.

It is unglazed, which is why a terracotta pot breathes and dries the soil faster than plastic. The word also names the colour, and the Terracotta Army of some eight thousand figures was buried in China around 210 BC.

anonymous · CC0

Definitions of terracotta

  1. 1nounterracottaBaked orange-brown clay used for pots and tiles.B2+

    “The patio was decorated with terracotta pots full of herbs.”

terracotta is a clay.

Where it comes from

Italian terra cotta means baked earth, from terra, earth, and cotta, cooked, the past participle of cuocere.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *pekʷ-

  2. Italian

    terra — earth

  3. English, today

    terracotta

Built from

  • cotta · Italian — baked

Borrowed from Italian terra (“earth”) + cotta (“baked”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Materials & Substances

Practise this word

terracotta in the wild

  • Other, non-military terracotta figures have since been found in other pits, including those of officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

    Terracotta Army

  • Terracotta is also used to refer to the natural brownish-orange color of most terracotta.

    Terracotta

  • The Etruscan terracotta warriors are three statues that resemble the work of the ancient Etruscans, but are in fact art forgeries.

    Etruscan terracotta warriors

  • Decorative carved or moulded plaques of terracotta (the same material as the brick) are a special feature.

    Architecture of Bengal

  • Bankura horse is the terracotta horse, produced in Panchmura village in Bankura district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

    Bankura horse

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the terra family

terraceterrain

terracotta — used about once every 33,333 pages · #14,047 · point at the bar for the others