Etymologically
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visage

Etymology and origin of the French word visage

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1100, Chanson de Roland
Ultimate origin
Latin (videō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin visus
French visage

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vi.zaʒ/[1]

Forms

visage m (plural visages)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French vis (“face”) + -age.[2][3][4][5][6] “Vis”, used until the mid-17th century and kept in vis-à-vis, is inherited from Latin vīsus (“sight; appearance”), the action noun of videō (“to see”); it must have taken the sense “face” in popular Latin, as Italian viso shows.[3][5][4] Wiktionary allows a Vulgar Latin “*visāticum” instead.[1][7]

Related Romance forms are Old Occitan visatge and Portuguese visagem.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1100 the Chanson de Roland says of Ganelon: vairs out les oilz e mult fier lu visage “his eyes were bright and his face very proud”.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Old and Middle French built many phrases on it: faux visage “mask” (1338), faire bon or mauvais visage à (late 15th century), trouver visage de bois “to find the door shut” (1388).[2][3] About 1400 it meant a facial expression, and, from 1342 à deux visages “two-faced”.[2][3] À visage découvert is figurative in Montaigne (1580) and literal from 1700.[2]

By metonymy it meant the person (1560, Ronsard), whence visages pâles for white people (1855, after English pale-face).[2][8] The socialisme à visage humain of Prague in 1968 gave a widely used phrase.[2][3] Rey notes that in speech visage has lost ground to figure and tête.[3][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Visage in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • 1338 – Faux visage, a mask.[3]
  • 1342 – À deux visages “two-faced”.[2]
  • Late 15th century – Faire bon visage in Commynes.[2]
  • 1560 – The person, in Ronsard.[2]
  • 1580 – En visage descouvert in Montaigne.[2]
  • 1855 – Visages pâles.[2]
  • 1968 – À visage humain.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The face: un visage rond, se laver le visage.[9][1]
  2. An expression, look: un visage souriant, changer de visage.[10][2]
  3. A person: voir de nouveaux visages.[10]
  4. The aspect of something: la ville offrait un visage de fête, montrer son vrai visage.[10][2]
  5. Faire bon visage à: to be friendly to, à visage découvert: openly.[10][2]

Word family

  • dévisager
  • vis-à-vis
  • voir
  • visière
  • envisager

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 538a
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Visage.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/visage. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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