Foreign.
It's the word of the day for August 2nd.
Today's word is palimpsest, spelled P A L I M P S E S T. Palimpsest is a noun.
In its original use, it refers to writing material,
such as a parchment manuscript used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased.
The underlying text is said to be in palimpsest.
Palimpsest in extended use refers to something that has usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface.
Here's the word used in a sentence from the New York Times.
My aim was to trace the course of the Aqua Marcia,
built between 144 and 140 BC by Julius Caesar's ancestor Quintus Caes Marsyas Rex.
The original tuff arches carried the Marcia across a steep ravine.
Subsequent retaining walls and buttresses have transformed the bridge into a palimpsest of building styles.
Long ago, writing surfaces were so highly valued that they were often used more than once.
Palimpsest in its original use referred to an early form of recycling in which an old document was erased to make room for a new one when parchment ran short.
The word is from the Greek word meaning scraped again.
Fortunately for modern scholars, the erasing process wasn't completely effective,
so the original could often be distinguished under the newer writing.
De Republica, by Roman statesman and orator Cicero,
is one of many documents recovered from a palimpsest.
Nowadays, the word palimpsest can refer not only to such a document,