hessian
hessian Lexical Profile
hessian Game Scores & Validity
• noun
British A strong, coarse woven fabric made from jute or hemp fibers, widely used for making sacks and upholstery.
"The gardener wrapped the delicate tree roots in damp hessian to protect them from frost."
A native or inhabitant of the German state of Hesse, or historically a German auxiliary soldier hired by the British during the American Revolutionary War (usually capitalized as Hessian).
"Historical records detail the daily life of the Hessian troops stationed in New York during the 1770s."
A square matrix of second-order partial derivatives of a scalar-valued function, or its determinant, used in multivariable calculus to describe local curvature (usually capitalized as Hessian).
"To determine whether the critical point is a local minimum, we must evaluate the eigenvalues of the Hessian."
• adjective
British Made of or resembling a coarse, durable woven fabric of jute or hemp.
"The harvested coffee beans were stored in large hessian sacks to allow air circulation."
Relating to the central German state of Hesse, its people, or its culture (usually capitalized as Hessian).
"The museum features an extensive collection of 18th-century Hessian glassware and ceramics."
Word Nuance & Usage
In British and Australian English, lowercase 'hessian' is the standard everyday term for coarse jute fabric (called 'burlap' in North America), whereas capitalized 'Hessian' refers to the German state of Hesse, its inhabitants, or the 18th-century German auxiliary troops.
• Rhymes for hessian
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from Hesse, a state in central Germany, plus the suffix '-ian'. The textile sense arose in the 19th century because coarse woven hemp or jute cloth was originally manufactured in or associated with the Hesse region, while the mathematical term honors German mathematician Otto Hesse (1811–1874).