ˈvestij, -tēj noun
( -s )
Etymology: French, from Latin vestigium
1.
a. : a trace, mark, or visible sign left by a material thing (as a building) formerly present but now otherwise lost or unknown
digging for the vestiges of past civilizations
fossil bones and other vestiges
b. : the mark of a foot left on the earth : footstep , track
2.
a. : a remaining bit that constitutes a memorial or trace of something formerly present or assumed to be present
a manner showing vestiges of past culture
could detect vestiges of beauty in her aging face
broadly : a minute amount : the smallest quantity or trace
lost all remaining vestiges of self-control — Evelyn Barkins
the lack of a vestige of hair on his pate — Leonard Wibberley
not a vestige of sugar in the house
b. : a small and degenerate or imperfectly developed bodily part or organ that remains from one more fully developed in an earlier stage of the individual, in a past generation, or in closely related forms