The onion metaphor is of similar character. If page you peel the outer layer off an onion, a similar onion exists within the outer layer. This network is employed by designers in applications such as the layering of clothes or the arrangement of tables, where a smaller table sits within a larger table and a yet smaller one within that. See also onion routing.
A matryoshka doll or a Russian nested doll, also called a stacking doll or Babooshka doll, is a certain of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. "Matryoshka" is a derivative of the Russian female first cognomen "Matryona", which is traditionally associated with a fat, robust Russian woman.