Vis-à-vis
Posted by R. Berg on November 20, 2001
In Reply to: French? posted by Bob on November 19, 2001
: : "Vis a vis" I think it's a French phrase. But I've heard Americans use it many times.
: Literally French. "Face to face." That is, directly compared with.
: But... in such widespread use in English-speaking countries, for so long... when is it no longer French? This phrase would be on the cusp of adoption. I suspect in 40 or 50 years, it will be English.
It wasn't marked as foreign in Webster's Second Unabridged .
See also - other French phrases in English.