tessera

See also: tesserà

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tessera (“a cube, a die with numbers on all six sides”), from Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares, “four”).

Noun

tessera (plural tesserae)

1. A small square piece of stone, wood, ivory or glass used for making a mosaic.
   • 2014, Jerry Brotton, Great Maps, DK, page 35:

     The map was laid using tesserae, small cube-shaped tiles of limestone, marble, or colored stone.

2. (planetology) complex-ridged surface feature seen on plateau highlands of Venus and perhaps on Triton
3. (rare) An ancient Roman die.
   • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 110:

     During the reign of Augustus, Rome imported marble from Egypt and Africa, and games of tali and tessera were played.

Derived terms

• tessellate
• tesseract

Further reading

• tessera on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• tessera (Venus) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Aertses, Teressa, starees, teasers, reseats, saeters, Treases, searest, erastes, seaters, eatress, earsets, Seaters, arsetes, easters, Easters, steares, erasest, teresas

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛs.se.ra/
• Rhymes: -ɛssera
• Hyphenation: tès‧se‧ra

Etymology 1

From Latin tessera (“a cube, a die with numbers on all six sides”), from Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares, “four”).

Cognate with Piedmontese téssera.

Noun

tessera f (plural tessere)

1. card; credit card
2. pass
3. tessera (small square piece used for making a mosaic)
4. domino

Synonyms

• tassello

Derived terms

• fototessera
• tesserare
• tesserino

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

tessera

1. inflection of tesserare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• asterse, sareste, traesse

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares, “four”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈtes.se.ra/, [ˈt̪ɛs̠ːɛrä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈtes.se.ra/, [ˈt̪ɛsːerä]

Noun

tessera f (genitive tesserae); first declension

1. tessera
2. die (used in games)
3. watchword
4. token
5. ticket

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	tessera	tesserae
genitive	tesserae	tesserārum
dative	tesserae	tesserīs
accusative	tesseram	tesserās
ablative	tesserā	tesserīs
vocative	tessera	tesserae

References

• “tessera”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tessera”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tessera in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• tessera in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to give the watchword, countersign: tesseram dare (Liv. 28. 14)
    
• “tessera”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “tessera”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin