terra alba
A white earthy substance consisting of burnt gypsum and aluminium silicate, or some…A white earthy substance consisting of burnt gypsum and aluminium silicate (kaolin), or some similar ingredient, such as magnesia. It is sometimes used to adulterate certain foods, spices, candies, paints, etc.
Meaning
1 senses(uncountable)A white earthy substance consisting of burnt gypsum and aluminium silicate (kaolin), or some similar ingredient, such as magnesia. It is sometimes used to adulterate certain foods, spices, candies, paints, etc.
- finely pulverized gypsum used especially as a pigment
- fine white clay used in making tobacco pipes and pottery and in whitening leather
- a fine usually white clay formed by the weathering of aluminous minerals (as feldspar); used in ceramics and as an absorbent and as a filler (e.g., in paper)
Origin
Borrowed from Latin terra (“earth”) + alba (“white”), literally meaning "white earth". UltBorrowed from Latin terra (“earth”) + alba (“white”), literally meaning "white earth". Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ters-.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
6 synonyms- fine white clay used in making tobacco pipes and pottery and in whitening leather:pipeclay
- a fine usually white clay formed by the weathering of aluminous minerals (as feldspar); used in ceramics and as an absorbent and as a filler (e.g., in paper):china claychina stonekaolinkaolineporcelain clay
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.