A building material made of clay, tempered by sand, dung, or straw, and either sun dried or kiln dried at a relatively low temperature, especially when made into bricks.
Adobe Brickworks, Kom Ombo, Egypt
Because it is both porous and not actually baked, adobe easily absorbs moisture and readily deteriorates in regions of high or frequent rainfall, where adobe walls must be topped with more water-resistant roofing material. However in dry regions, the insulating properties of adobe, as well as the abundance of appropriate materials to make it, resulted in its use as a major building material for millennia.
The word comes into English via Spanish from Arabic at-tuba “the brick” and goes back ultimately to ancient Egyptian dbt “brick.” Therefore, etymologically the term “adobe” should applied only when the material is made into bricks and not when it is used as stucco (“daub”) over other material.