Tensile strength of soil plays an important role in controlling the cracking and tensile failure of many earth structures. In this investigation, a direct tensile test apparatus was developed to determine the tensile strength of compacted clayey soil over a broad range of water contents (4.3-28.5%) and with different dry densities (1.5-1.7 Mg/m3). The results show that the tensile strength of compacted clayey soil significantly depends on water content. The tensile strength characteristic curve (TSCC) exhibits one peak value occurring at the critical water content wc around 11.5%. With increasing water content, the tensile strength increases at the dry side of wc and then decreases at the wet side of it. Generally, with the increase of dry density, the tensile strength also increases. Moreover, a modified model is proposed to describe the tensile strength characteristics of compacted clayey soil, and it is validated by the obtained test data.