tessellate

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

    Learned borrowing from Latin tessellātus, from tessella, diminutive of tessera; from Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈtɛsəleɪt/
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)

    Adjective

    tessellate

    1. tessellated

    Derived terms

    Verb

    tessellate (third-person singular simple present tessellates, present participle tessellating, simple past and past participle tessellated)

    1. (transitive) To cover with tiles or stones, as a mosaic; to tile.
    2. (intransitive, geometry) to cover 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

    Translations

    See also

    Latin

    Adjective

    tessellāte

    1. vocative masculine singular of tessellātus