mosaic

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a picture or pattern made by arranging small pieces of colored stone, glass, tile, or another material

   The restored mosaic depicts fish swimming around a Roman ship.

2. 2
   noun

   a combination of many different elements that together form a larger whole

   The neighborhood is a mosaic of languages, traditions, and architectural styles.

3. 3
   adj

   made up of many varied parts or showing a pattern of distinct patches

   Satellite images revealed a mosaic landscape of farms and woodland.

From Middle French mosaique, through Italian mosaico and Medieval Latin musaicum or mosaicum. The term is ultimately associated with Greek Mouseion, a shrine of the Muses, whose decorated surfaces helped give the art form its name.

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