Word.ws English Dictionary

hessian

UK/ˈhɛsiən//ˈhɛʃən/

hessian noun: a strong, coarse fabric made from hemp or jute, often used for making sacks.

Noun (1)

hessian (countable and uncountable, plural hessians)

  1. (UK) A strong, coarse fabric made from hemp or jute, often used for making sacks.
    Synonyms:
    burlap

Adjective capitalized: Hessian

Hessian (comparative more Hessian, superlative most Hessian)

  1. Of, from or relating to the state of Hesse, Germany.
  2. Of or relating to the German mathematician Otto Hesse (1811–1874).
    • Hessian line; Hessian point; Hessian matrix

Noun (2) capitalized: Hessian

Hessian (countable and uncountable, plural Hessians)

  1. A native or inhabitant of the state of Hesse, Germany.
  2. (historical) A mercenary soldier, especially a German one who fought with the British in the American Revolutionary War.
  3. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Hessian boot.
  4. (UK, abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Hessian cloth or Hessian fabric (“burlap, jute”).
  5. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Hessian matrix.

Proper noun capitalized: Hessian

Hessian

  1. The Rhine Franconian dialect spoken in Hesse.

Synonyms of hessian

Forms of hessian

Noun
pluralhessians
pluralHessians
Adjective
comparativemore Hessian
superlativemost Hessian
alternative formHessean

Plural of hessian: hessians

Origin of hessian

See Hessian. Attributed to the historic use of the fabric as part of the uniform of soldiers from the former Landgraviate of Hesse and its successors, who were called Hessians.

From Hesse + -ian. Doublet of hessian.

Words formed from hessian

Phrases with hessian

Words that rhyme with hessian

Questions about hessian

What does hessian mean?
Hessian means a strong, coarse fabric made from hemp or jute, often used for making sacks.
What part of speech is hessian?
Hessian can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce hessian?
Hessian is pronounced /ˈhɛsiən/ (UK).
What is the plural of hessian?
The plural of hessian is hessians.

Words near hessian in the dictionary

  1. Hessemann
  2. Hessen
  3. Hesser
  4. Hessers
  5. Hesses
  6. hessian
  7. Hessian boot
  8. Hessian boots
  9. Hessian crucible
  10. Hessian crucibles
  11. Hessian flies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hessian (page history and authors); Hessian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-hessian.wav.

Cite this entry: “hessian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hessian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.