palimpsest

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a manuscript (usually written on papyrus or parchment) on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible

From Latin palimpsēstus, from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος (palímpsēstos, “scraped again”).

I saw in this library the famous Palimpsests. — Pilgrimage from the Alps to the Tiber : $b or, The influence of Romanism on trade, justice, and knowledge, J. A. (James Aitken) Wylie
“It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest. — The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
I scanned a leaf particularly and saw that it was a palimpsest. — A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain

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