palimpsest

PAL-imp-sest, noun

Something reused that still bears traces of its earlier form.

“The city is a palimpsest of trolley lines under asphalt.”

Where palimpsest comes from

Greek for scraped again, from parchment reused because it cost too much.

Difficulty: expert. One of 440 entries written and checked by hand.

Hapax puts one word like this on your Lock Screen every morning, with its pronunciation, definition and an example. No ads, no account.