visa

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An official stamp or document allowing you to enter, stay in, or leave a country.

   I came on a six-month tourist visa.

2. 2
   verb

   To give someone a visa or officially approve their passport.

   The embassy visaed thousands of student passports last year.

Simplified etymology

Visa, recorded from the mid-19th century, is a shortening of Latin charta visa, literally “seen paper.” The name reflects the document’s function as evidence that a person’s right to enter a country has been examined.

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.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary