English

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, erastes, reseats, saeters, seaters, starees, teasers

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

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.

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, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “tessera”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, 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