1. a small square tile of stone, glass, or ceramic used in making mosaics
2. a small tablet or token used for identification or admission in ancient Rome
Usage: historical

Examples

• Each tessera in the ancient mosaic was carefully placed by hand.
• The artist selected blue and gold tesserae for the sky portion of the design.
• Archaeologists found Roman tesserae scattered throughout the excavation site.
• The mosaic required thousands of tiny tesserae to complete.
• Ancient Romans used tesserae as tickets to public events.
• The craftsman sorted the tesserae by color before beginning work.