palimpsest

What it means

1. A manuscript or document that has been erased or scraped clean, for reuse of the paper, parchment, vellum, or other medium on which it was written.
2. archaicMonumental brasses that have been reused by engraving of the blank back side.
3. astronomyCircular features believed to be lunar craters that have been obliterated by later volcanic activity.

In a sentence

But on her he did not see even the palimpsest of a smile.

2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 329

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekπαλίμψηστος“scraped again”
2. Latinpalimpsēstus
3. Englishpalimpsest

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