visa
/ˈviː.zə/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms visas visaing visaed
- noun A permit to enter and leave a country, normally issued by the authorities of the country to be visited. “I came on a six-month tourist visa.”
- verb (transitive, dated) To endorse (a passport, etc.).
- proper noun (banking) A credit card company.
- noun (banking) A credit card issued by the credit card company Visa.
- noun (banking) A credit card.
Etymology
From 1831, "official signature or endorsement on a passport," from French visa, from Latin charta vīsa (“paper that has been seen”) from feminine perfect passive of Latin vidēre (“to see”). Compare vision, video, vista.
Coined by the company's founder, Dee Hock, who believed that the word was instantly recognizable in many languages and that it denoted universal acceptance.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “visa”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details