visa: [19] A visa is etymologically something ‘seen’. The word comes via French visa from Latin vīsa, literally ‘things seen’, a noun use of the neuter plural form of the past participle of vidēre ‘see’ (source of English vision, visit, etc). The notion underlying the word is that a visa is a note or other mark made on a passport to signify that it has been officially ‘seen’ or examined. => visit, vision[visa etymology, visa origin, 英语词源]