Vis-à-vis comes from Latin by way of French, where it means literally "face-to-face." In English it was first used to refer to a little horse-drawn carriage in which two people sat opposite each other. From there it acquired various other meanings, such as "dancing partner." Vis is the Old French word for visage (face), so literally, vis-à-vis is a prepositional phrase meaning “face to face.” However, for this usage it needs another word: vis-à-vis de. Comparing and contrasting (Definition of vis-à-vis from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press) You use vis-à-vis when you are considering a relationship or comparison between two things or quantities.
