adobe
pronunciation
How to pronounce adobe in British English:
UK [əˈdəʊbi]
How to pronounce adobe in American English:
US [ əˈdoʊbi]
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- Noun:
- the clay from which adobe bricks are made
- sun-dried brick; used in hot dry climates
Word Origin
- adobe
- adobe: [18] Adobe is of Egyptian origin, from the time of the pharaohs. It comes from Coptic tōbe ‘brick’ (the form t.b appears in hieroglyphs). This was borrowed into Arabic, where the addition of the definite article al produced attob ‘the brick’. From Arabic it passed into Spanish (the corridor through which so many Arabic words reached other European languages), and its use by the Spanish-speaking population of North America (for a sun-dried brick) led to its adoption into English in the mid 18th century.
- adobe (n.)
- 1739, American English, from Spanish adobe, from oral form of Arabic al-tob "the brick," from Coptic tube "brick," a word found in hieroglyphics.
Example
- 1. This area has a lot of masonry building , brick building , adobe building .
- 2. These buildings are made of adobe brick .
- 3. At least 32 houses were destroyed , mainly in san marcos , she said , where construction is often unstable adobe .
- 4. All that remains of abu mohammed 's ancestral home here in syria 's capital are two small adobe brick rooms and a few fig , loquat and mulberry trees .
- 5. In a place where there are still adobe houses , and where a dowry may be measured partly in potatoes freeze-dried by nights spent above 4000 metres ( 13000 feet ) , this is a transformation .