vestige

[ves-tij] /ˈvɛs tɪdʒ/
noun
1.
a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence:
A few columns were the last vestiges of a Greek temple.
2.
a surviving evidence or remainder of some condition, practice, etc.:
These superstitions are vestiges of an ancient religion.
3.
a very slight trace or amount of something:
Not a vestige remains of the former elegance of the house.
4.
Biology. a degenerate or imperfectly developed organ or structure that has little or no utility, but that in an earlier stage of the individual or in preceding evolutionary forms of the organism performed a useful function.
5.
Archaic. a footprint; track.
Origin
1535-45; < Middle French < Latin vestīgium footprint
Synonyms
1. token. See trace1 . 3. hint, suggestion.
Examples from the web for vestige
  • She had been pretty once and still retained more than a vestige of those looks at fifty-one.
  • The stock has risen sharply on the double-breasted suit, that vestige of the all mighty power-suit era.
  • The only remaining vestige is a large granite bullfrog, which has no particular symbolism in itself.
  • It has tiny rounded ears and the mere vestige of a tail.
  • One vestige of human uniqueness still often cited by anthropologists is culture.
  • The last and enduring vestige of the body armour is the combat helmet.
British Dictionary definitions for vestige

vestige

/ˈvɛstɪdʒ/
noun
1.
a small trace, mark, or amount; hint: a vestige of truth, no vestige of the meal
2.
(biology) an organ or part of an organism that is a small nonfunctioning remnant of a functional organ in an ancestor
Word Origin
C17: via French from Latin vestīgium track
Word Origin and History for vestige
n.

c.1600, from French vestige "a mark, trace, sign," from Latin vestigium "footprint, trace," of unknown origin.

vestige in Medicine

vestige ves·tige (věs'tĭj)
n.
A rudimentary or degenerate, usually nonfunctioning, structure that is the remnant of an organ or a part that was fully developed or functioning in a preceding generation or an earlier stage of development.