Visnage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The face or facial expression of a person, especially as it shows their character or mood
2. A person's countenance, the particular look or appearance that their features present to others
3. The front of a human head, regarded as the outward expression of someone's appearance and feelings

Etymology: Before it meant the front of the head, this word meant simply how something looked. It descends from Latin "visus," "sight," which gave Old French "visage," meaning "appearance" or "look." English took the term over, and the sense narrowed over time to the face itself, the part of a person that shows their look most clearly. "Visnage" is an older English spelling of that same word, one of several variant forms English writers used for it. It now sounds archaic, and most modern readers will recognise it mainly from older texts. The spelling does not change the word's origin, which runs back through French to the Latin idea of seeing.