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Glite Dictionary
tessella

tessella

9.9
A small piece of stone, tile, or glass used to make a mosaic
  • noun
  • /tɛˈsɛlə/
  • Specialized
: tessela
  • The restorer carefully replaced each missing tessella in the ancient mosaic pattern.

Examples

  • The artist selected a blue tessella to complete the sky in her mosaic design.

  • The artist carefully placed each tessella in the mosaic.

  • Under the microscope, every tiny tessella was visible in astonishing detail.

  • I bought a tessella from the local craft store.

  • The artist selected a blue tessella to complete the sky in her mosaic design.

  • The restorer carefully replaced each missing tessella in the ancient mosaic pattern.

  • Under the microscope, every tiny tessella was visible in astonishing detail.

Synonyms

tessera
vstessella
1 9.9

A small piece of stone, tile, or glass used to make a mosaic

is the same meaning but is a variant spelling used for the same item

Surface Forms

tessella singular
tessellae plural

Etymology

Tessella comes from the Latin word tessera, which meant a small tile or square, and it is the same root as the English word tessellate, meaning to cover a surface with tiles. So a tessella is one tiny 'tile' or block used to make a mosaic.