A layer is one thickness or level of material or substance that lies over or under another, like layers of clothes, rock, or paint.
From *lay* plus the agent or result suffix *-er*, originally meaning something that lays or is laid. It evolved into a noun for the thing laid down, especially in repeated sheets or levels.
We talk about layers in clothes, cakes, software, and even personalities, all using the same simple stacking idea. The word helps us picture complexity as something you could peel back, one sheet at a time.
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