the clay from which adobe bricks are made
"The old house was built directly into a hillside of dry, sun-baked adobe that crumbled slightly at our feet when we dug near the foundation."
sun-dried brick; used in hot dry climates
"The ancient village was built entirely of adobe, which kept the interiors cool during scorching desert afternoons."
An unburnt brick dried in the sun.
"The ancient structure was built entirely of stacked adobe bricks that had hardened under the hot desert sun."
In plain English: Adobe is a type of soft, earthy clay that people used to build houses and walls before modern materials became common.
"The ancient village is built with thick adobe walls that keep the heat out during the summer."
Usage: Adobe refers to a building material made from earth and straw that is shaped into bricks and dried in the sun. You should use this term when describing traditional structures or walls constructed with these unbaked clay blocks rather than fired bricks.
The word adobe comes from the Spanish term for a type of sun-dried brick. It traveled into English through Arabic and Coptic, tracing its roots back to ancient Egyptian words that also meant "brick."