tessellated

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   covered or decorated with small tiles or pieces fitted together in a mosaic pattern

   The entrance hall retained its original tessellated floor.

2. 2
   adj

   biology and description: marked with a checkered, polygonal, or mosaic-like pattern

   The tortoise has a tessellated shell of dark and pale plates.

From Latin tessellatus, 'made of small square stones or tiles,' from tessella, a diminutive of tessera, 'small square piece.' The architectural mosaic sense broadened to natural surfaces with a similar checkered or tiled pattern.

Topics