tessellate

English

Alternative forms

• tesselate (chiefly U.S.)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin tessellatus, from tessella, diminutive of tessera; from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛsəleɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

1. (transitive) To cover with tiles or stones, as a mosaic; to tile.
2. (intransitive, geometry) Of a two-dimensional shape, such that multiple copies of itself placed edge to edge cover an area leaving no space between the shapes.

   Regular hexagons tessellate.

3. (transitive, geometry) To completely fill (an area) when multiple copies of one or more two-dimensional shapes are placed edge to edge.

   It is possible to tessellate the plane with equilateral triangles and regular hexagons.

Derived terms

• tessellation

Related terms

• tessella
• tessera

Translations

to cover with tiles or stones

• German: kacheln (de), pflastern (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to completely fill with multiple copies of a two-dimensional shape edge to edge

• German: tessellieren, parkettieren (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• tessellate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mosaic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

---

Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) tessellāte

1. vocative masculine singular of tessellātus