tessera

See also: tesserà

English

Etymology

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.
2. (planetology) complex-ridged surface feature seen on plateau highlands of Venus and perhaps on Triton

Derived terms

• tessellate
• tesseract

Anagrams

• Easters, Teressa, arsetes, earsets, erasest, erastes, reseats, saeters, seaters, starees, teasers

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Italian

Etymology

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

Noun

tessera f (plural tessere)

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

Related terms

• fototessera
• tesserare
• tesserino

Verb

tessera

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

Anagrams

• asterse, sareste, traesse

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Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈtes.se.ra/, [ˈtɛs.sɛ.ra]

Noun

tessera f (genitive tesserae); first declension

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

Inflection

First declension.

Case	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
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “tessera”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• “tessera” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• 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