Looking, feeling, or tasting like chalk; pale or dusty in appearance; having a dry or crumbly texture.
From chalk (from Greek 'chalix' via Latin), a soft white sedimentary rock. The adjective suffix '-y' was added in the 14th century to describe things resembling chalk.
Chalk cliffs whiten under your fingers because chalk is essentially fossilized plankton—so when something chalky looks pale and fragile, it's literally made of ancient sea creatures.
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