visage

See also: Visage and vissage

English

Etymology

From Middle English visage, from Anglo-Norman visage, from Vulgar Latin *vīsāticum, derived from Latin vīsus (“appearance, sight”), derived from vidēre (“to see”). Compare vision. See -age (“noun suffix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪz.ɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vis‧age
• Rhymes: -ɪzɪd͡ʒ

Noun

visage (plural visages)

1. Countenance; one's face.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:countenance

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XX, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 334:

     Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.

2. The appearance or aspect of something, especially when expressive or distinctive.

   Snowflakes fell gently across the mountain’s rugged visage.

   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 6:

     [T]he monſter, rouſed by the noiſe, ſtarted forward, preſented ſuch a viſage of horror, and raiſed ſuch a hideous roar, that the hearts of the bold were contracted, and the nerves of the valiant unſtrung.

Related terms

• envisage
• evidence
• visaged
• vision
• visionary
• visual
• visualization
• visualize
• visually

Translations

countenance; appearance; face

• Arabic: مَلَامِح m pl (malāmiḥ), سِحْنَة (ar) f (siḥna)
• Bulgarian: лице (bg) n (lice), образ (bg) m (obraz), изражение (bg) n (izraženie)
• Esperanto: aspekto
• Georgian: სახე (ka) (saxe), გამომეტყველება (gamomeṭq̇veleba)
• German: Gesicht (de) n
• Hungarian: arc (hu)
• Indonesian: roman (id), rupa muka
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ڕوخسار (ruxsar)

• Latin: vultus m, facies (la) f
• Persian: چهره (fa) (čehre), رخ (fa) (rox), رخسار (fa) (roxsâr), سیما (fa) (simâ)
• Polish: oblicze (pl) n
• Russian: выраже́ние лица (ru) n (vyražénije lica)
• Spanish: viso (es) m
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: یوز (yüz), چهره (çehre), وجه (vech, vecih), رو (rû)

Further reading

• “visage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “visage”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Veigas

French

Picture dictionary

visage

front

sourcil

cil

œil

nez

narine

joue

mâchoire

bouche

lèvre

menton

Click on labels in the image

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corps

Etymology

Inherited from Old French visage, from vis (from Latin visus) + -age, or possibly a Vulgar Latin *visāticum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.zaʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

visage m (plural visages)

1. face (of a human)

   Synonyms: (vulgar) tronche; (slang) bouille; (vulgar) gueule; figure

Synonyms

• face (only used in certain constructions, or in Canada)

Derived terms

• dévisager
• envisager
• montrer son vrai visage
• se voir comme le nez au milieu du visage
• trouver visage de bois
• visagiste

Further reading

• “visage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French visage.

Noun

visage (plural visages)

1. (anatomy) face

Synonyms

• face

Descendants

• English: visage

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *vīsāticum, derived from Latin vīsus. By surface analysis, vis +‎ -age. Compare Old Occitan vizatge.

Noun

visage oblique singular, m (oblique plural visages, nominative singular visages, nominative plural visage)

1. (anatomy) face

   Synonyms: vis, face, volt

Descendants

• Bourguignon: vizaige
• Champenois: visaige
• French: visage
  • → Esperanto: vizaĝo
• → Middle English: visage
  • English: visage
• → Italian: visaggio