Word.ws English Dictionary

terracotta

/ˌtɛɹ.əˈkɒt.ə/US/ˌtɛɹ.əˈkɑt.ə/

terracotta noun: a hard red-brown unglazed earthenware, used for pottery and building construction.

Noun

terracotta (usually uncountable, plural terracottas)

  1. (usually) A hard red-brown unglazed earthenware, used for pottery and building construction.
    • Among her busts in terra cotta are those of John Brown, Charles Sumner, Lincoln, and Longfellow.1918, Benjamin Brawley, “XI. Sculptors.—Meta Warrick Fuller”, in The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States, page 113
  2. (usually) A reddish brown colour, like that of terra cotta.

Adjective

terracotta (not comparable)

  1. Of the colour of terracotta.
    • A dull red or terracotta brown is far better, and sets off the foliage of Palms or Ferns to greater advantage.1892 June 18, F. W. B., “Why Paint a Greenhouse White?”, in The Garden, volume 41, page 569
    • She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.1963, Margery Allingham, “Dangerous Lady”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 36

terracotta meaning in Hindi and Tamil

terracotta in Hindi

hard red-brown earthenware
टेराकोटा ṭerākoṭā

terracotta in Tamil

சுடுமட்சிலை

Forms of terracotta

pluralterracottas
alternative formterra cotta
alternative formterra-cotta

Origin of terracotta

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

Words formed from terracotta

Phrases with terracotta

Questions about terracotta

What does terracotta mean?
Terracotta means a hard red-brown unglazed earthenware, used for pottery and building construction.
What is terracotta in Hindi?
Terracotta in Hindi is टेराकोटा (ṭerākoṭā). See Terracotta meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is terracotta?
Terracotta can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce terracotta?
Terracotta is pronounced /ˌtɛɹ.əˈkɒt.ə/ (UK).
What is the plural of terracotta?
The plural of terracotta is terracottas.

Words near terracotta in the dictionary

  1. terraceworks
  2. terracide
  3. terraciform
  4. terracing
  5. terracings
  6. terracotta
  7. Terracotta Army
  8. Terracotta Warriors
  9. terracottalike
  10. terracottas
  11. terracultural

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: terracotta (page history and authors); terracotta (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-terracotta.wav.

Cite this entry: “terracotta.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/terracotta. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.