Dictionary

vestige en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈvɛs.tɪd͡ʒ/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From French vestige, from Latin vestīgium (“footstep, footprint, track, the sole of the foot, a trace, mark”). Doublet of vestigium.

Meanings

1. A mark left on the earth by a foot.
2. (broadly) A faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost, or has perished, or is no longer present.
   • The result, therefore, of this physical inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,— no prospect of an end. 1788, James Hutton, Theory of the earth, page 166:
   • the vestiges of ancient magnificence in Palmyra
   • Nevertheless in some cases, my original view, that the points are vestiges of the tips of formerly erect and pointed ears, still seems to me probable. 1871, Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, Chapter I:
   • vestiges of former population
   • Her face was without a vestige of colour, but it only showed more strongly the perfect outline of her features. Pale she was, but not like a statue; it was a human paleness—passionate and painful. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Letters Restored”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 218:
   • The chief remains of the Roman Calagurris are the vestiges of an aqueduct and an amphitheatre. 1911, “Angkor”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:
   • Only ragged vestiges of glass remained in its windows, and great sheets of the green facing had fallen away from the corroded metallic framework. 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Chapter VIII:
   • The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common. 1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:
3. A vestigial organ; a non-functional organ or body part that was once functional in an evolutionary ancestor.
   • This idea was confirmed by Scott, who performed a detailed comparative analysis of primate anatomy and demonstrated conclusively that the appendix is derived for some unidentified function and is not a vestige. 2007, R. Randal Bollingera, Andrew S. Barbasa, Errol L. Busha, Shu S. Lina, William Parkera, “Biofilms in the large bowel suggest an apparent function of the human vermiform appendix,”, in Journal of Theoretical Biology:
   • Any person seeing such a condition could not help being frightened at the conditions found, and it seems to me that that fact should lead us to think that the appendix is a vestige or becoming so. 1904, Transactions of the […] annual session, volume 40, Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, page 160:
   • Now this paired organ of Jacobsen began in reptiles and is well developed in many mammals. But in man it is a vestige, often disappearing altogether; and the two openings are closed. 1932, John Arthur Thomson, Riddles of science, Ayer Publishing, page 824:
4. The remaining portion of a partially suppressed sideband.
   • [J]ust a trace, or vestige, of the other sideband is included. In the receiver detection circuitry the vestige of the lower sideband is added to the upper sideband. 2003, Tarmo Anttalainen, Introduction to Telecommunications Network Engineering, page 133:

Forms

Deriveds

vestigial · vestigiality

Relateds

hint · trace

Synonyms

track · trace · residue · footprint · trace · footstep · remains · remnant · relic · sign · remains

Translations (69)

uk слід (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ru пережи́ток (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ka ნიშანწყალი (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ja 足跡 (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · cs stopa (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ro rămășiță (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · tr iz (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · fi jäännös (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · es vestigio (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ml ചവിട്ടടി (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · sv rest (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · fi jalanjälki (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · de Spur (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · nl teken (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · tl dasto (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ka ნიშანი (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ka კვალი (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ka კვალი (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · hu csökevény ((biology) a vestigial organ; a non-functional organ or body part that was once functional in an evolutionary ancestor) · cmn 跡 /迹 (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · es huella (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ru рудиме́нт ((biology) a vestigial organ; a non-functional organ or body part that was once functional in an evolutionary ancestor) · pt vestígio (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ml കാൽച്ചുവട് (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · pl ślad (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · be след (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ka ნაკვალევი (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · tr arta kalan (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · pt pegada (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · da antydning (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · pl szczątki (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · eo vestiĝo (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ro vestigiu (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · it impronta (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · nl spoor (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · cmn 痕跡 /痕迹 (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ro urmă (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · it vestigia (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · pt vestígio (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · hu maradvány (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ca vestigi (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · fi jälki (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ja なごり (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · nb spor (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · pl pozostałość (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · it traccia (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · it strascico (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · de Überrest (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · cs pozůstatek (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · hu nyom (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ka ნაკვალევი (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · pt marca (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · pl ślad (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · mi pakuriki (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · bg следа́ (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · da spor (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · hu nyom (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ja 痕跡 (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · it segno (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ko 자취 (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · it marchio (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ro indiciu (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · es pisada (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · sv spår (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · de Überbleibsel (faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost) · ml ചുവട് (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · sv spår (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · nl voetafdruk (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign) · ru след (mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign)